A fun tale about finding a friend through kindness.
A lonely girl and her magical canine help an unhappy boy in this debut picture book.
London and her dog, Joy, love to hop on a playground’s swings. London tells Joy everything—including a secret wish. When the two hear a boy crying, they rush to help and discover that he lost a hat. Luckily, Joy is a wish-granting pooch. When the boy whispers his wish in Joy’s ear, she takes off for the hat with confidence even though she’s blind: “London and the boy were trailing, but not very far behind. / They were excited and filled with hope of what Joy’s sightless search would find.” Soon, the item—an original Tuskegee Airmen hat worn by the boy’s great-grandfather—is discovered, and both wishes are granted. London’s wish was to make a new friend. The digital illustrations from Whimsical Designs by CJ offer a vibrant feel to the enjoyable series opener, featuring a diverse playground with people of several ages, skin tones, and abilities. London’s Afro puffs, curly and tinted purple, and her hoop earrings with the word Love inside capture the Black girl’s big personality and gregariousness. Hight’s text stretches over two-page spreads, sometimes making the rhymes hard to recognize in the long phrases. But once the rhythm is found, the scansion flows well throughout despite verb tense shifts that readers may find jarring. The nod to the Tuskegee Airmen may encourage kids to seek more information about this important part of American history.
A fun tale about finding a friend through kindness.Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798986333205
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cellar of Purple
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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