AT THE DROP OF A CAT

Name: AT THE DROP OF A CAT
Author: Élise Fontenaille
ISBN: 978-1-59270-382-1

by Élise Fontenaille ; illustrated by Violeta Lópiz ; translated by Karin Snelson & Emilie Robert Wong ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 24, 2023

Warmhearted and affirming—one to pick up.

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A French child expresses love for a Spanish grandfather in this French import.

A dark-haired, pale-skinned 6-year-old adores spending time with their grandfather, whom they call Luis. The sensitively written text reveals Luis’ struggles without presenting him as lesser. The young narrator loves how Luis mixes up idioms, the source of the book’s title. Because Luis fled Spain as a child during “a terrible war” and had to work to support himself in France, he never went to school or learned to read and write. Although early on the narrator informs us, “I’m learning to read and write,” this does not turn into a story centered on Luis’ illiteracy. Instead, the grandchild lovingly details their grandfather’s appreciation for birds, cats, and the natural world as well as his many skills, like gardening, cooking, playing guitar, and painting. “Dad says Luis is as good as Henri Rousseau,” the text reads, which provides insight into the artistic inspiration behind Lópiz’s lush, naïve style and flat aesthetic. By book’s end, the narrator can read well, and Luis celebrates this accomplishment with a gift that reinforces their special bond and brings this stunning and tender tale to a satisfying conclusion. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Warmhearted and affirming—one to pick up. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-59270-382-1

Page Count: 36

Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books

Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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HANSEL AND GRETEL

by Stephen King ; illustrated by Maurice Sendak ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 2, 2025

Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators.

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Existing artwork from an artistic giant inspires a fairy-tale reimagination by a master of the horror genre.

In King’s interpretation of a classic Brothers Grimm story, which accompanies set and costume designs that the late Sendak created for a 1997 production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, siblings Hansel and Gretel survive abandonment in the woods and an evil witch’s plot to gobble them up before finding their “happily ever after” alongside their father. Prose with the reassuring cadence of an old-timey tale, paired with Sendak’s instantly recognizable artwork, will lull readers before capitalizing on these creators’ knack for injecting darkness into seemingly safe spaces. Gaping faces loom in crevices of rocks and trees, and a gloomy palette of muted greens and ocher amplify the story’s foreboding tone, while King never sugarcoats the peach-skinned children’s peril. Branches with “clutching fingers” hide “the awful enchanted house” of a “child-stealing witch,” all portrayed in an eclectic mix of spot and full-bleed images. Featuring insults that might strike some as harsh (“idiot,” “fool”), the lengthy, dense text may try young readers’ patience, and the often overwhelmingly ominous mood feels more pitched to adults—particularly those familiar with King and Sendak—but an introduction acknowledges grandparents as a likely audience, and nostalgia may prompt leniency over an occasional disconnect between words and art.

Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025

ISBN: 9780062644695

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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THE HALLOWEEN TREE

by Susan McElroy Montanari ; illustrated by Teresa Martínez ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 6, 2019

Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard.

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A grouchy sapling on a Christmas tree farm finds that there are better things than lights and decorations for its branches.

A Grinch among the other trees on the farm is determined never to become a sappy Christmas tree—and never to leave its spot. Its determination makes it so: It grows gnarled and twisted and needle-less. As time passes, the farm is swallowed by the suburbs. The neighborhood kids dare one another to climb the scary, grumpy-looking tree, and soon, they are using its branches for their imaginative play, the tree serving as a pirate ship, a fort, a spaceship, and a dragon. But in winter, the tree stands alone and feels bereft and lonely for the first time ever, and it can’t look away from the decorated tree inside the house next to its lot. When some parents threaten to cut the “horrible” tree down, the tree thinks, “Not now that my limbs are full of happy children,” showing how far it has come. Happily for the tree, the children won’t give up so easily, and though the tree never wished to become a Christmas tree, it’s perfectly content being a “trick or tree.” Martinez’s digital illustrations play up the humorous dichotomy between the happy, aspiring Christmas trees (and their shoppers) and the grumpy tree, and the diverse humans are satisfyingly expressive.

Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard. (Picture book. 4-8)