An easygoing story about seeking a place to call home and finding friendship in unlikely places.
Thompson’s children’s chapter book tells the story of an adventurous rodent who’s kind, brave, and looking for the good life.
Kudzu, a chipmunk, lives in a burrow in the flower garden on the Weatherbys' farm. One day, a stray German shepherd comes sniffing around and disturbs Kudzu’s burrow; fortunately, Mrs. Weatherby scares the dog off. While escaping further dangers, Kudzu ends up in the nearby woods, where he meets new creatures, such as Ophelia, an opossum. He also happens upon the German shepherd, but this time, the dog needs Kudzu’s help. The chipmunk then decides that returning to his parents’ burrow and reconnecting with his siblings is his best plan, but he’s devastated to find out that his childhood home has been bulldozed. Kudzu’s friendship with the dog, whose name is Quincy (“I heard someone read it off a street sign, and I decided to give it to myself”), grows as they teach each other about their worlds, and together they return to the Weatherbys’ place. Kudzu, Quincy, and a mouse named Stanley plot to ingratiate Quincy to the humans so that they’ll take him in as their pet. This chapter book is aimed at young readers, but it may remind older caregivers of movies such as Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993), in which animals, voiced by humans, wander around outdoors in a quest to get back where they belong. This story touches on some deep themes, such as parental loss, abandonment, and longing for connection, but the use of animals will make it easier to digest for a less-mature audience. Sometimes, however, the pace of the story is quite slow, with an excessive level of detail. The title also feels a bit misleading, as Kudzu’s life at the end of the book isn’t dramatically different from what it was at the start. Occasional realistic grayscale illustrations by Gledhill feature characters in various scenes from the narrative.
An easygoing story about seeking a place to call home and finding friendship in unlikely places.Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-63988-187-1
Page Count: 154
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
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
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
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)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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