A witty year-round ghost tale that delivers a wonderfully unconventional conclusion.
A headstrong young girl finds herself in a haunted house standoff.
Aggie’s excitement about living independently quickly dissolves when she discovers that her lovely new cottage in the rainy woods comes with an unwelcome, shape-shifting, ghostly roommate. Determined to make it work, the light-skinned, short-haired Aggie establishes house rules for the ghost—“no haunting after dark,” “no stealing my socks,” “no more eating all the cheese”—but her spectral companion proves resistant to regulation. The conflict escalates to a high-stakes tic-tac-toe match, where the winner gets the house. Forsythe’s signature watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil illustrations masterfully supply both emotional depth and charm to the characters and setting. In a particularly mesmerizing double-page spread, a supernatural vortex of swirling, eye-studded ghostly forms draw the gaze toward an opening where a small, determined Aggie and her equally resolute opponent face off. Glowing pinks juxtaposed with deep indigos heighten the dramatic atmosphere. The delightfully wry ghost’s ever-changing forms and expressions create a humorous visual journey that will have readers hurrying to discover each new, surprising incarnation. Though the narrative occasionally feels assembled to showcase striking artwork over story flow—a minor issue that likely won’t trouble Forsythe fans—the refreshingly imperfect resolution offers young readers a nuanced ending rarely found in picture books.
A witty year-round ghost tale that delivers a wonderfully unconventional conclusion. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2025
ISBN: 9781534478206
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
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
Chilling in the best ways.
When a young rabbit who’s struggling in school finds a helpful crayon, everything is suddenly perfect—until it isn’t.
Jasper is flunking everything except art and is desperate for help when he finds the crayon. “Purple. Pointy…perfect”—and alive. When Jasper watches TV instead of studying, he misspells every word on his spelling test, but the crayon seems to know the answers, and when he uses the crayon to write, he can spell them all. When he faces a math quiz after skipping his homework, the crayon aces it for him. Jasper is only a little creeped out until the crayon changes his art—the one area where Jasper excels—into something better. As guilt-ridden Jasper receives accolade after accolade for grades and work that aren’t his, the crayon becomes more and more possessive of Jasper’s attention and affection, and it is only when Jasper cannot take it anymore that he discovers just what he’s gotten himself into. Reynolds’ text might as well be a Rod Serling monologue for its perfectly paced foreboding and unsettling tension, both gentled by lightly ominous humor. Brown goes all in to match with a grayscale palette for everything but the purple crayon—a callback to black-and-white sci-fi thrillers as much as a visual cue for nascent horror readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Chilling in the best ways. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6588-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
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