A quiet celebration of reading and family that’s equal parts charming and gently spooky.
In this Brazilian import, a child soothes her relatives with the power of stories.
Little Kooky lives in a house with her large extended family. At night, the whole household is restless; everyone is too afraid to sleep because of the ghost who haunts their home. But Little Kooky, unwilling “to let fear ruin her day,” grabs a good book. Traveling from room to room, she reads to her various family members to help them fall asleep—even the neighbor’s dog is lulled. The tale ends with the child finally going to bed: “With no fear to be found / with her book on her chest, / She climbed into her mom’s bed / And let her body rest.” Black-and-white images reminiscent of Edward Gorey’s work and spare, occasionally rhyming text translated from Portuguese set a ghostly yet somehow reassuring tone from the very start. Illustrations full of intricate details and textures rely on thin lines and crosshatching. An offbeat sense of humor occasionally peeks through: One of Little Kooky’s relatives reclines in an upturned-chair; the baby of the house sleeps in a crib with a mobile featuring bizarre-looking creatures. Readers will be intrigued by this simple story that offers a radical departure from typical picture-book art. Characters have skin the white of the page.
A quiet celebration of reading and family that’s equal parts charming and gently spooky. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9798988749967
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Tapioca Stories
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
Sweet.
A caregiving bear shares with its cub how love has defined their relationship from the first moment and through the years as the cub has grown.
With rhymes and a steady rhythm that are less singsong-y than similar books, Stansbie seems to have hit a sweet spot for this offering on the I-love-you-always shelf. Readers follow the adult and child as they share special moments together—a sunset, a splash in a pond, climbing a tree, a snuggle—and the adult tells the child that the love it feels has only grown. Stansbie also takes care not to put promises in the adult bear’s mouth that can’t be delivered, acknowledging that physical proximity is not always possible: “Wherever you are, / even when we’re apart… // I’ll love you forever / with all of my heart.” The large trim size helps the sweet illustrations shine; their emphasis is on the close relationship between parent and child. Shaped peekaboo windows offer glimpses of preceding and succeeding pages, images and text carefully placed to work whatever the context. While the die cuts on the interior pages will not hold up to rough handling, they do add whimsy and delight to the book as a whole: “And now that you’re bigger, / you make my heart sing. / My / beautiful / wonderful / magical / thing.” Those last three adjectives are positioned in leaf-shaped cutouts, the turn of the page revealing the roly-poly cub in a pile of leaves, three formed by the die-cuts. Opposite, three vignettes show the cub appreciating the “beautiful,” the “wonderful,” and the “magical.”
Sweet. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68412-910-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Silver Dolphin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world.
This reassuring picture book exemplifies how parents throughout the animal kingdom make homes for their offspring.
The narrative is written from the point of view of a parent talking to their child: “If you were a beaver, I would gnaw on trees with my teeth to build a cozy lodge for us to sleep in during the day.” Text appears in big, easy-to-read type, with the name of the creature in boldface. Additional facts about the animal appear in a smaller font, such as: “Beavers have transparent eyelids to help them see under water.” The gathering of land, air, and water animals includes a raven, a flying squirrel, and a sea lion. “Home” might be a nest, a den, or a burrow. One example, of a blue whale who has homes in the north and south (ocean is implied), will help children stretch the concept into feeling at home in the larger world. Illustrations of the habitats have an inviting luminosity. Mature and baby animals are realistically depicted, although facial features appear to have been somewhat softened, perhaps to appeal to young readers. The book ends with the comforting scene of a human parent and child silhouetted in the welcoming lights of the house they approach: “Wherever you may be, you will always have a home with me.”
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world. (Informational picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63217-224-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
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