A nicely diverse addition to the teacher-doesn’t-want-to-go-to-school shelf.
Miss Macintosh does not want to go to school.
She has barely enough time to pull the covers back over her head before Principal Bellwether is at the door with the rest of the faculty. In tag-team fashion, Mrs. Sketcher (art teacher), Mrs. Burger (lunch lady), Mr. Jitters (last year’s kindergarten teacher), Mr. Comfort (school nurse), Ms. Patience (guidance counselor), Miss Melody (music teacher), and Miss Bluebird (bus driver) chivvy her through a morning routine that will be familiar to small children. Kids will get a kick out of Miss Macintosh’s childlike behaviors, such as dawdling over her cereal. In her bustling cartoon illustrations, Lands depicts Miss Macintosh as a bespectacled white woman; her fellow teachers are a diverse lot, and the stereotype-busting casting of a man as the nurse and a black man as the principal is a welcome touch. Children will notice that despite a conversation about Miss Macintosh’s untied shoes (she doesn’t know how), her red shoes appear to be tied just fine. There’s no question that portraying the teacher as nervous on the first day of school is a good joke, but this relatively straightforward presentation lacks the clever reveal, and therefore the punch, of Julie Danneberg and Judy Love’s First Day Jitters (2000).
A nicely diverse addition to the teacher-doesn’t-want-to-go-to-school shelf. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-55451-863-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees.
After Duncan finds his crayons gone—yet again—letters arrive, detailing their adventures in friendship.
Eleven crayons send missives from their chosen spots throughout Duncan’s home (and one from his classroom). Red enjoys the thrill of extinguishing “pretend fires” with Duncan’s toy firetruck. White, so often dismissed as invisible, finds a new calling subbing in for the missing queen on the black-and-white chessboard. “Now everyone ALWAYS SEES ME!…(Well, half the time!)” Pink’s living the dream as a pastry chef helming the Breezy Bake Oven, “baking everything from little cupcakes…to…OTHER little cupcakes!” Teal, who’s hitched a ride to school in Duncan’s backpack, meets the crayons in the boy’s desk and writes, “Guess what? I HAVE A TWIN! How come you never told me?” Duncan wants to see his crayons and “meet their new friends.” A culminating dinner party assembles the crayons and their many guests: a table tennis ball, dog biscuits, a well-loved teddy bear, and more. The premise—personified crayons, away and back again—is well-trammeled territory by now, after over a dozen books and spinoffs, and Jeffers once more delivers his signature cartooning and hand-lettering. Though the pages lack the laugh-out-loud sight gags and side-splittingly funny asides of previous outings, readers—especially fans of the crayons’ previous outings—will enjoy checking in on their pals.
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780593622360
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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