Joy, despair, reunion, community—delightfully, all here.
Reprising The Barnabus Project (2020), the Fan brothers revisit the reopened Perfect Pets store, which sells adorable boxed creatures with engineered, interactive personalities.
Barnaby, “half mouse and half elephant, with just a dash of flamingo,” is anxious about the exciting new Perfect Pets on offer. As the last Barnaby on the shelf, will he ever be chosen? Then, a light-skinned little girl does just that. At first, the pair are inseparable. She reads him bedtime stories; he helps her with chores. And every Saturday morning, they watch Barnaby and Friends (our hero is a branded tie-in to this popular TV show). Everything changes one day when they tune in to find that Barnaby’s been replaced by new “Rainbow Barnaby.” When the girl’s father won’t buy the colorful new Pet, the girl’s interest in plain pink Barnaby wanes. As her father walks him one rainy Saturday, Barnaby slips his collar, intending to run away just “long enough for people to miss him.” Days become months. Barnaby escapes a feline “orange beast,” discovers other lost Pets in a dumpster, and encounters his Rainbow doppelgänger, who disparages Barnaby’s dirty, now-gray fur. In the park, squirrels teach Barnaby their wild ways, sheltering him all winter. Spring brings a reunion with the searching girl, who reawakens Barnaby’s memories. The Fans’ deft pictures combine intricate details and ground-level perspective, conveying empathy for children and the even smaller creatures that populate their world. Human characters are diverse.
Joy, despair, reunion, community—delightfully, all here. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781774882436
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Tundra Books
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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