As pink and frothy as cotton candy.
Betty is back, and this time she struggles with which activity to join as the new school year starts.
First introduced in Itty Bitty Betty Blob (2024), the pink monster with an ever-shifting body learned to embrace her cheerful persona, even though it made her different from her cranky classmates. In this companion story, her mother would prefer that she select the “Dreary Drama Club” for her extracurricular activity, since the “Devil Divers” group that piques her daughter’s interest sounds too rough. Unfortunately, the protagonist’s nerves take over at the audition, and after a literally blobby meltdown, Betty puddles to the pool, makes the team, and ultimately wins the championship by executing her “divine dive” instead of the expected bellyflop. Once again, she gleans that being true to herself is the best way to be. The hand lettering and palette recall the first book, with its digital black/brown and white scenes, punctuated with color wherever Betty and her rainbow-hued puff friends make an entrance. Shifting perspectives add drama. Alliteration, occasional rhymes, and playful word substitutions make this a pleasing, humorous read-aloud: “While typical monsters played hide-and-shriek, / Betty frolicked in the forest with her friends.” Children will relate to the range of emotions depicted and the desires that conflict with the adults in their lives.
As pink and frothy as cotton candy. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2025
ISBN: 9781662640926
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Hippo Park/Astra Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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