A sweet affirmation of a grandfather’s love.
“The most important thing to a bee is its family.”
The narrator of this lyrical picture book knows this because she’s been watching her grandfather tend his bees around their home, “where the mountains hug the sea.” Today is a special day, because Grandpa has invited his grandchild to help with the harvest in his Honey Bus. Donning boots and veils, the beekeeper and his young helper pull “wooden frames heavy with honeycomb” from the hives and carry them into the Honey Bus. (This unusual honey shed goes unexplained in this book, but curious adults may want to seek out May’s 2019 memoir, The Honey Bus, to learn more.) The honeybees’ devotion to their family clearly resonates with the child—an attitude that can be inferred from spare details shared with seeming casualness. The child lives with “my grandpa and granny, [and] my mom….But mostly it’s just Grandpa and me—Granny teaches at the elementary school, and Mom is often in bed with a headache.” The illustrations glow with honey yellows. Swirling organic shapes evoke the natural setting and underscore the tale’s gentle tone; even the geometric hexagons of honeycomb seem to flow into one another like drops of honey. Grandpa and grandchild have pale skin; his hair and mustache are black, while the narrator’s hair is brown.
A sweet affirmation of a grandfather’s love. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781951836825
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cameron Kids
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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BOOK REVIEW
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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