A new friendship, tested and affirmed through adventure.
Lia and Lion, each seeking a pet for a different reason, discover truths about the nature of friendship.
Tan-skinned Lia scrutinizes a meadow’s abundant wildlife for a pet she can “take on an adventure.” Lion, browsing nearby, wants a pet that will “follow his lead.” Predictably, upon encountering each other, they argue. Each wants a pet—not to be one—and to define adventure in their own way. Lia strides resolutely through some tall grass, but the foreboding darkness within frightens her. Lion, musing that the “surprise” he seeks might lie within, enters the grass with Lia. “Ginormous” berries, toadstools, and ancient trees enchant them, and a wild rainstorm cements their bond as they huddle together in fear. “Let’s think of it like a party,” Lia suggests. Though the thunder is frightening, the two yell back at it. As they emerge into the dripping green-gold of the storm’s aftermath, Lia is homesick. “Is it still an adventure if we have to go home?” she asks. “Oh definitely,” Lion responds. “Who knows what we’ll find on the way!” Rodin skillfully imbues this tale with the emotions and conflicts of childhood, as well as the ability to acknowledge and resolve them. Each character unconsciously recognizes and accepts the other’s fears. Rodin’s vibrant illustrations in gold, green, and blue employ gestural marks to convey drama and delicate line for details.
A new friendship, tested and affirmed through adventure. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780593903322
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
