A sweet story with an important message that goes down easily.
“Leeeet’s get ready to crumble!”
Cake is an amazing friend—“eggs-traordinary” and “one in a melon,” as the other foods put it. No one measures up to Cake. Until Pie moves in. Pie, a joker, is “warm and open” (literally—check out their lattice top crust). Cake and Pie become friends, and in no time everyone loves Pie, but Cake realizes that Pie craves attention. Soon Pie becomes the flavor of every month. Feeling “desserted,” Cake challenges Pie to a Food Fight. Before stepping into the ring with Pie, Cake asks Danish, Waffle, Brownie, and others for a makeover. They have lots of suggestions—maybe Cake should be Carrot Cake or Coffee Cake? In the end, Danish says, “Just be yourself,” and Cake agrees…though they decide to add a few layers and embellishments. But when Cake and Pie enter the ring, Cake’s tiers topple onto Pie. Soon another type of food fight ensues as the onlookers begin hurling whipped cream, sauce, and more at one another. Cake regrets their jealousy, and Pie admits they should have swallowed their pride. Together, they pick up the pieces and put things right. Bardhan-Quallen leans heavily on the food puns, but she also offers a sound lesson about compromise and the art of friendship. Stilwell’s delightfully expressive cartoons depict cookies, popsicles, strawberries, and more, all with round eyes and stick-figure limbs. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sweet story with an important message that goes down easily. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 27, 2023
ISBN: 9780358555605
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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
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