A charming start to a new adventure series.
An 8-year-old girl struggles to keep her secret when a new neighbor moves in next door.
Nobody knows that Isla Verde can talk to the animals on the island where she lives, Sol. It’s a talent that comes in handy when she sends her best friend, Fitz the Gecko, to check out the moving truck that arrived on her street. To her excitement, one of the new neighbors is a girl her age, so she might finally have a human best friend. However, Tora Rosa, who comes from La Ciudad, seems like the complete opposite of Isla—she’s tidy, loves the big city where she’s from, and runs from animals—but Isla still wants to make a good impression, so she comes up with an idea. On a trip to town to prepare for her big plan, Isla bumps into Tora. When an attention-seeking bird steals Tora’s prized pin, a reminder of her old home, the two embark on an adventure across the island. As they traverse Sol, Isla runs into some of her best animal friends, which puts her secret at risk of exposure. Isla just may find that the best way to make a friend is to be herself, despite her and Tora’s differences. A well-paced adventure with simple language, this is an excellent selection for beginning readers. Soft, warm illustrations depict Isla’s beloved island as she shows Tora around, keeping young readers engaged while they learn about what the island offers. Isla’s curiosity and joy shine through as a budding friendship blossoms. Isla and her family are brown-skinned, while Tora and her family are lighter-skinned; both families are Spanish-speaking and present as Latine.
A charming start to a new adventure series. (Fiction. 5-9)Pub Date: Dec. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66592-654-6
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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
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