A charmingly cozy fantasy helmed by an endearing queer protagonist.
In the seaside town of Shellville, a blue-haired witch in training and bakery employee makes delicious deliveries.
At Witchycakes, Mama Moon whips up beachy treats, from sandy-witch bread to raspberry sandbars. Accompanied by a sea gull familiar named Gully, tan-skinned Blue, who uses they/them pronouns, ferries their mother’s wares all over town. Along the way, Blue attempts to use magic to help the customers they encounter: a young boy who’s afraid to tell his two dads that he’s lost his guinea pig, a mother run ragged by her four kids, and a grocer mourning his beloved dog. But magic often causes more problems than it solves. Though Blue makes frequent mistakes, they quickly pivot to new solutions, offering young readers a welcome lesson in resilience. LaReau has created an idyllic, homey world populated by warm, neighborly characters who encourage Blue’s growth each step of the way. The witchy protagonist, gently told story, and sleepy, small-town setting feel heavily inspired by Kiki’s Delivery Service; its fans are likely to be thrilled with this new series, while young readers will hopefully find a natural path to the original book and anime film. Aspiring chefs will enjoy the appended kid-friendly, no-bake recipe for Mama Moon’s Beach Crumble. Moreira relies on a palette of muted earth tones and teals, pairing nicely with the seaside setting and effectively portraying a diverse cast.
A charmingly cozy fantasy helmed by an endearing queer protagonist. (Chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798217025855
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
Charming.
An assortment of unusual characters form friendships and help each other become their best selves.
Mr. and Mrs. Tupper, who live at Number 3 Ramshorn Drive, are antiquarians. Their daughter, Jillian, loves and cares for a plant named Ivy, who has “three speckles on each leaf and three letters in her name.” Toasty, the grumpy goldfish, lives in an octagonal tank and wishes he were Jillian’s favorite; when Arthur the spider arrives inside an antique desk, he brings wisdom and insight. Ollie the violet plant, Louise the bee, and Sunny the canary each arrive with their own quirks and problems to solve. Each character has a distinct personality and perspective; sometimes they clash, but more often they learn to empathize, see each other’s points of view, and work to help one another. They also help the Tupper family with bills and a burglar. The Fan brothers’ soft-edged, old-fashioned, black-and-white illustrations depict Toasty and Arthur with tiny hats; Ivy and Ollie have facial expressions on their plant pots. The Tuppers have paper-white skin and dark hair. The story comes together like a recipe: Simple ingredients combine, transform, and rise into something wonderful. In its matter-of-fact wisdom, rich vocabulary (often defined within the text), hint of magic, and empathetic nonhuman characters who solve problems in creative ways, this delightful work is reminiscent of Ferris by Kate DiCamillo, Our Friend Hedgehog by Lauren Castillo, and Ivy Lost and Found by Cynthia Lord and Stephanie Graegin.
Charming. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781665942485
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A close encounter of the best kind.
Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.
While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.
A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4253-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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