Cheerful, dear, and funny—with a comforting conclusion.
Two magpies try to fit everything but the kitchen sink into their nest.
Magpies Meg and Ash are enthusiastic homemakers and aspiring parents. In the tallest tree, they build a nest from classic materials: mud, grass, and sticks. “Then lastly, to keep it all cozy and clean, / they lined the whole thing with an old magazine.” Uh-oh! The magazine’s full of ads—quaint, old-fashioned ads that readers can peruse up-close on the endpapers—and a seed is planted. Meg and Ash don’t make any purchases (there’s no commerce in this animal world), but suddenly, all objects strike them as shiny and irresistible. Can the nest fit cuckoo clocks and socks? A bucket, a mop, a broom? Human-sized bicycles and an entire car? The nested accumulation eventually crashes down, causing a frantic search for the missing magpie eggs. The whole animal community (foxes, rabbits, bugs, more birds) pitches in. Gravett’s virtuosity at animal facial expressions is in top form, and her crisp, fine lines bring bright detail. Brilliant use of composition and white space showcases the magpies’ unbridled collecting but feels visually fascinating rather than busy. Much of the verse satisfies—Meg and Ash collect “a teddy abandoned by a bin, / the bin, and EVERYTHING within”— though the scansion sometimes slips: “The shiny bucket, and the lights / came clattering down from the heights.”
Cheerful, dear, and funny—with a comforting conclusion. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-9617-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends.
Is it a stormy-night scare or a bedtime book? Both!
Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are heading home when a storm lets loose. Before long, their familiar, now very nervous barnyard friends (Goat, Hen, Goose, Cow, Duck, and Pig) squeeze into the garage. Blue explains that “clouds bump and tumble in the sky, / but here inside we’re warm and dry, / and all the thirsty plants below / will get a drink to help them grow!” The friends begin to relax. “Duck said, loud as he could quack it, / ‘THUNDER’S JUST A NOISY RACKET!’ ” In the quiet after the storm, the barnyard friends are sleepy, but the garage is not their home. “ ‘Beep!’ said Blue. ‘Just hop inside. / All aboard for the bedtime ride!’ ” Young readers will settle down for their own bedtimes as Blue and Toad drop each friend at home and bid them a good night before returning to the garage and their own beds. “Blue gave one small sleepy ‘Beep.’ / Then Little Blue Truck fell fast asleep.” Joseph’s rich nighttime-blue illustrations (done “in the style of [series co-creator] Jill McElmurry”) highlight the power of the storm and capture the still serenity that follows. Little Blue Truck has been chugging along since 2008, but there seems to be plenty of gas left in the tank.
A sweet reminder that it’s easy to weather a storm with the company and kindness of friends. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-85213-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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