Next book

ASTRO

An achingly beautiful testament to life, love, and death among the stars.

This Spanish import mixes meditations on mortality with an outer-space setting.

“We had never seen such a strange being.” A creature who’s 90% neck attached to a spherelike orange body tells the story of Astro—an orange-suited astronaut whose face is never visible—who lands one day on the narrator’s planet. Illustrations that feel like a mashup of Peter Max’s psychedelic work and the cacophony of Bruegel (though quite a bit sweeter) depict spectacular landscapes and denizens, alien and wonderful. The narrator is eager to play with Astro, and the two strike up a deep friendship. After musing that “you should make the most of the good times. Because they don’t always last,” the narrator dies one day in an accident, leaving Astro bewildered and bereft. The creature continues to narrate as the spaceman ponders beginnings and endings and, in an act of acceptance, finally leaves the planet. A postscript shows Astro and the narrator together, Astro finding a tiny object that he holds in gloved hands that seem to contain universes. This translated tale perfectly taps into feelings of gentle wonder. “Maybe beings and worlds disappear but questions stay floating forever.” The results are not merely otherworldly—they will also challenge children’s very perceptions of what it means to be alive. Quotes from writers such as J.M. Barrie and Carl Sagan close out the work.

An achingly beautiful testament to life, love, and death among the stars. (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2025

ISBN: 9798893389043

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Transit Children's Editions

Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025

Next book

CLAYMATES

The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...

Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.

A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.

The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: June 20, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017

Next book

SNOW PLACE LIKE HOME

From the Diary of an Ice Princess series

A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre.

Ice princess Lina must navigate family and school in this early chapter read.

The family picnic is today. This is not a typical gathering, since Lina’s maternal relatives are a royal family of Windtamers who have power over the weather and live in castles floating on clouds. Lina herself is mixed race, with black hair and a tan complexion like her Asian-presenting mother’s; her Groundling father appears to be a white human. While making a grand entrance at the castle of her grandfather, the North Wind, she fails to successfully ride a gust of wind and crashes in front of her entire family. This prompts her stern grandfather to ask that Lina move in with him so he can teach her to control her powers. Desperate to avoid this, Lina and her friend Claudia, who is black, get Lina accepted at the Hilltop Science and Arts Academy. Lina’s parents allow her to go as long as she does lessons with grandpa on Saturdays. However, fitting in at a Groundling school is rough, especially when your powers start freak winter storms! With the story unfurling in diary format, bright-pink–highlighted grayscale illustrations help move the plot along. There are slight gaps in the storytelling and the pacing is occasionally uneven, but Lina is full of spunk and promotes self-acceptance.

A jam-packed opener sure to satisfy lovers of the princess genre. (Fantasy. 5-8)

Pub Date: June 25, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-338-35393-8

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019

Close Quickview