A funny finicky-eater fantasy.
A kid faces a picky eater’s ultimate nemesis: a refrigerator’s worth of vegetables.
“‘Broccoli is good for you,’ my dad says. But I know the truth. Broccoli is trying to kill me.” The kid has it figured out: “I’m pretty sure Broccoli leads meetings inside the dark, cold fridge.” What’s more, “When I open the fridge to get some milk, I know they’re watching me.” When Dad announces that dinner will be mac and cheese, the narrator is delighted—“There’s no Broccoli in that”—but the joy is short-lived. “While I celebrate, the vegetables begin their attack!” Readers will know that this is headed for a face-off, but they may not anticipate the narrator’s built-in secret weapon: “CHOMP!” It’s all quite entertaining, with springy alliterative turns (“The tomatoes tiptoe toward the toaster”). The title should be a tip-off that this story—Evans’ picture-book debut—isn’t for little ones, who may nevertheless be drawn to Allen’s bold and kinetic digital art in fierce colors perfectly suited to adversarial produce with menacing expressions. Indeed, the central joke (a spoof of the paranoid mindset) is for a slightly older crowd and, of course, for any adult who has ever been tasked with feeding a vegetable-avoidant child. Both the father and the child narrator have brown skin and dark hair.
A funny finicky-eater fantasy. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9780823459612
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A cozy read to share, especially with beloved older relatives.
A mutual love of pie seals an affectionate relationship.
Noor and Granddad are separated by an ocean (though their locations are unspecified). Still, they share a common passion—pie—which they eat together every summer, when Noor and Mom travel by plane to visit Granddad and Nana. Then Noor and her grandfather bake up a storm. The most special—albeit bittersweet—one is the “time-to-say-goodbye pie,” the signal that it’s time for Noor and Mom to leave. But Noor and Granddad still meet virtually for their Friday “pie reports,” where they discuss what’s going on in their lives. Just before Noor leaves this summer, she learns that Granddad’s health is declining; his “arm [has] been shaking more than usual.” Granddad calls these incidents “blue days.” As Granddad’s symptoms increase, he skips their pie reports, so Noor writes her reports and reads them aloud at their next visit. When necessary, Granddad rests; sometimes, he’s better. At story’s end, Noor gives Granddad a hopeful card that reads “For when you need to find your way out of the blue” and tells him he’s stronger than he knows. This upbeat, warmhearted tale bubbles with sweetness; children will appreciate the protagonists’ intergenerational bond as well as the food theme. The delightful illustrations were created with pencil and graphite sticks on paper, then digitally colored; kids will savor those pastries. Noor and Mom have light-brown skin. Granddad is lighter-skinned, and Nana is brown-skinned.
A cozy read to share, especially with beloved older relatives. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 14, 2024
ISBN: 9781459838079
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
A full-hearted valentine.
A soaring panegyric to elementary school as a communal place to learn and grow.
“This is a kid,” Schu begins. “This is a kid in a class. This is a class in a hall….” If that class—possibly second graders, though they could be a year to either side of that—numbers only about a dozen in Jamison’s bright paintings, it makes up for that in diversity, with shiny faces of variously brown or olive complexion well outnumbering paler ones; one child using a wheelchair; and at least two who appear to be Asian. (The adult staff is likewise racially diverse.) The children are individualized in the art, but the author’s narrative is addressed more to an older set of readers as it runs almost entirely to collective nouns and abstract concepts: “We share. We help. / This is a community, growing.” Younger audiences will zero in on the pictures, which depict easily recognizable scenes of both individual and collective learning and play, with adults and classmates always on hand to help out or join in. Signs of conflict are unrealistically absent, but an occasional downcast look does add a bit of nuance to the general air of eager positivity on display. A sad face at an apartment window with a comment that “[s]ometimes something happens, and we can’t all be together” can be interpreted as an oblique reference to pandemic closings, but the central message here is that school is a physical space, not a virtual one, where learning and community happen. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A full-hearted valentine. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0458-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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