A sound lesson in empowerment and self-respect.
A pigeon learns how to stand up for herself.
Peggy the pigeon can’t catch a break. No matter where she perches, someone objects to her presence and shoos her away. Peggy invariably apologizes and skedaddles, convinced she’s done wrong. Then, Peggy meets a seagull named Joan, who explains that she’s been watching Peggy and has carefully noted her ever contrite behavior. Joan points out that Peggy was victimized and further counsels her to stop saying “sorry” when she isn’t wrong. Joan advises skeptical, shy Peggy to stand up for herself by saying anything other than “sorry” when unjustly picked on. This is good—and hilarious—advice, as Peggy turns out to be quite the wordsmith. Next day, Joan is at Peggy’s side when the same bullies attempt to shoo her off “their” respective patches. Instead of saying “sorry,” Peggy manages—with Joan’s encouragement—to let rip blasts of nonsensical, uproarious comebacks that confuse and startle the bullies and send them packing. Readers will love this warm, funny, reassuring U.K. import about standing up to bullies and taking back one’s own space. Uttering ridiculous, unexpected remarks—as Peggy does—actually isn’t a bad way to completely disarm a tormentor. Kids will howl at Peggy’s snappy retorts and will enjoy volunteering their own wildly silly phrases. The lively illustrations move the story along briskly; Peggy and Joan are feisty, well-realized characters. Humans are racially diverse.
A sound lesson in empowerment and self-respect. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781499815948
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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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