Readers will savor this delectable treat and will want to return to it again and again.
Is life without decent snacks worth living?
Spreckle, a red dragon inexplicably hatched among farm chickens, appreciates her fine home, cozy bed, fluffy mama, and snuggly siblings but dislikes the between-meals fare that the chickens appreciate. You try slimy slugs and dried corn. So Spreckle flies the coop. Life outside the henhouse is rife with goodies, but Spreckle is unimpressed. A colorful ice pop from a passing ice cream truck looks perfect but is a melting, messy disappointment. Spreckle glumly decides there are “no good snacks anywhere in the entire world.” When it starts to rain, Spreckle realizes that maybe food isn’t as important as her loving mama and siblings, who find and comfort the cold, lonely dragon. Spreckle catches a cold in the rain, and a fiery sneeze results in Spreckle’s inadvertently discovering the best snack ever. (Hint: Think heated dried corn kernels.) This sweet, comical tale is downright delicious, and children will gobble it up. Spreckle is an adorably winning character who finds what she’s been looking for at home in the bosom of family—a reassuring message for kids. The spirited illustrations, rendered in pencil, watercolor, and Photoshop (art media are riotously noted on the back cover’s “nutritional label”), are enhanced with amusing font changes, insets, arrows, and onomatopoeic sound effects. Background human figures are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Readers will savor this delectable treat and will want to return to it again and again. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781682634820
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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