An upbeat tale laced with a clear, much-needed message of environmental stewardship.
A crab searches for new digs.
Finding beach real estate’s hard, but hermit crab Sheldon’s shell has become very snug, and he must locate a roomier home. He has no time to lose; hungry seagulls are circling overhead. One possibility—a tin can—appears, but it’s noisy and smelly. Sheldon’s sad: A homeless crab is a sunbaked, dried-out crab. Myrtle the turtle escorts him to her beach shop, which is filled with fancy outfits. Sheldon gleefully tries on numerous, ultimately unsuitable styles, then spies a sturdy-looking plastic bottle: It’s perfect! Uh, no. Scuttling inside, Sheldon gets stuck. Myrtle watches helplessly as Sheldon rolls away and lands in a hole. Happily, a young girl named Kaia frees him, then shows him the bucket of shells she’s collected. Sheldon finally selects his perfect new home, and Kaia realizes that the shells belong to the beach, not her. Going forward, she’ll help with beach-cleanup efforts, and she organizes a group of eager kids on the spot. They work hard and clear the beach of human detritus. This lively U.K. import, written in bouncy, present-tense verse, is a loud clarion call to keep beaches free of carelessly strewn human clutter. Sheldon’s full of personality; his plight will arouse children’s empathy and hopefully inspire a “let’s get working” mindset. The colorful, lively cartoon illustrations depict both messy and pristine beach vistas. Kaia is brown-skinned; background figures are diverse.
An upbeat tale laced with a clear, much-needed message of environmental stewardship. (how can you help the environment? note on “Surfers Against Sewage”) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781780558301
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Buster Books
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
A hilarious autumnal comedy of errors.
A confused squirrel overreacts to the falling autumn leaves.
Relaxing on a tree branch, Squirrel admires the red, gold, and orange leaves. Suddenly Squirrel screams, “One of my leaves is…MISSING!” Searching for the leaf, Squirrel tells Bird, “Someone stole my leaf!” Spying Mouse sailing in a leaf boat, Squirrel asks if Mouse stole the leaf. Mouse calmly replies in the negative. Bird reminds Squirrel it’s “perfectly normal to lose a leaf or two at this time of year.” Next morning Squirrel panics again, shrieking, “MORE LEAVES HAVE BEEN STOLEN!” Noticing Woodpecker arranging colorful leaves, Squirrel queries, “Are those my leaves?” Woodpecker tells Squirrel, “No.” Again, Bird assures Squirrel that no one’s taking the leaves and that the same thing happened last year, then encourages Squirrel to relax. Too wired to relax despite some yoga and a bath, the next day Squirrel cries “DISASTER” at the sight of bare branches. Frantic now, Squirrel becomes suspicious upon discovering Bird decorating with multicolored leaves. Is Bird the culprit? In response, Bird shows Squirrel the real Leaf Thief: the wind. Squirrel’s wildly dramatic, misguided, and hyperpossessive reaction to a routine seasonal event becomes a rib-tickling farce through clever use of varying type sizes and weights emphasizing his absurd verbal pronouncements as well as exaggerated, comic facial expressions and body language. Bold colors, arresting perspectives, and intense close-ups enhance Squirrel’s histrionics. Endnotes explain the science behind the phenomenon.
A hilarious autumnal comedy of errors. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-3520-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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