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WHO TAUGHT THAT MOUSE TO WRITE

Name: WHO TAUGHT THAT MOUSE TO WRITE
Author: Bill Littlefield

by Bill Littlefield ; illustrated by Stephen Coren ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A silly and amusing poetry collection that might have benefited from brighter art.

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Littlefield presents a lighthearted set of rhyming poems for young readers about animals, birds, and insects.

Each work in this creative, humorous children’s book focuses on a particular creature. In the poem that inspired the book’s title, a mouse outsmarts a human who sets a trap; the rodent leaves a note thanking the human for lunch, leaving them befuddled about who taught the mouse to write. Readers learn the moral of the story of “Tortoise and Hare” in a poem that concludes, “a racing tortoise doesn’t need the higher gears / To beat a foe too slow to know the only way to win / Is to remember why you’re there as soon as you begin.” In “Robin,” the author analyzes the weighty role of a robin announcing spring—and wonders what would happen if the bird was late. The poet recommends a garbage-eating goat for messy homeowners in one poem and shaking out one’s shoes to check for scorpions in another. Other tales feature an octopus that struggles to control its eight arms, a hurried caterpillar confidently crossing the road, and a vulture defending its reputation by highlighting that it eats what others won’t—and cleans the desert, too. Coren’s black-and-white animal illustrations will increase engagement, but the art might have had more impact in full color. Over the course of the collection, Littlefield combines a whimsical tone with clever, creative anecdotes to spark curiosity in young readers. He also shares wry animal observations: “Cows DON’T ever look like they’re thinking a lot. / They seem quite contented with all that they’ve got” (“Cows”). Similarly, in “Leopard,” the speaker reassures readers that the titular creatures are just as they’re meant to be: “I hope all of us inclined to rearrange / Ourselves because we’re not content with what we are today / Can recognize that as we are we’re better than okay.”

A silly and amusing poetry collection that might have benefited from brighter art.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 27, 2025

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
KEEPERS
by Bill Littlefield

- BOOK REVIEW
CHAMPIONS
by Bill Littlefield & illustrated by Bernie Fuchs

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CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

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A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.

Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 16, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S SPRINGTIME

From the Little Blue Truck series

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2018

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.

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Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.

This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)