A clever, funny animal tale about acceptance and community.
A platypus searches for a beach that will welcome her family in this picture book about inclusivity.
On a perfect beach day, Mrs. Duck-billed Platypus packs up all the things she and her seven children need to enjoy the surf and sand. After applying sunscreen to the kids and her egg, she leads them to the area’s nicest beach. Unfortunately, there’s a sign: “No beaks allowed.” Mrs. Platypus thinks about arguing with the buffalo lifeguard, but she’s encountered animals like him before and “she can tell he is not going to listen or change his mind.” After being turned away from eight more beaches, the platypuses are ready to head home until they find other animals who were also excluded. Mrs. Platypus leads the group to an unoccupied beach and makes a sign welcoming everyone. Soon, their sunny oasis is crowded with happy animals—and the private beaches have all been abandoned. With the same energy and theme as Lisa Mantchev’s Strictly No Elephants(2015),this story about including everyone resonates. Lescaut uses an accessible vocabulary and generally short sentences (the beach supply list is the longest one in the book), making this tale well suited for emergent readers. The text varies between direct narration and dialogue, as the young platypuses provide humorous commentary on the day. Martí’s digital watercolor illustrations make excellent use of the amusing platypus shapes, giving readers a charming group of anthropomorphic animals to follow to beautifully drawn beaches.
A clever, funny animal tale about acceptance and community.Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1734761887
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tra Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it.
What happens when a robot washes up alone on an island?
“Everything was just right on the island.” Brown beautifully re-creates the first days of Roz, the protagonist of his Wild Robot novels, as she adapts to living in the natural world. A storm-tossed ship, seen in the opening just before the title page, and a packing crate are the only other human-made objects to appear in this close-up look at the robot and her new home. Roz emerges from the crate, and her first thought as she sets off up a grassy hill—”This must be where I belong”—is sweetly glorious, a note of recognition rather than conquest. Roz learns to move, hide, and communicate like the creatures she meets. When she discovers an orphaned egg—and the gosling Brightbill, who eventually hatches—her decision to be his mother seems a natural extension of her adaptation. Once he flies south for the winter, her quiet wait across seasons for his return is a poignant portrayal of separation and change. Brown’s clean, precise lines and deep, light-filled colors offer a sense of what Roz might be seeing, suggesting a place that is alive yet deeply serene and radiant. Though the book stands alone, it adds an immensely appealing dimension to Roz’s world. Round thumbnails offer charming peeks into the island world, depicting Roz’s animal neighbors and Brightbill’s maturation.
A hymn to the intrinsic loveliness of the wild and the possibility of sharing it. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780316669467
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
