A furball of nonstop feline fun.
A Chihuahua babysits kittens in exchange for a promised army of minions.
Directly following the events of Poodle of Doom (2022), this third series entry sees future Dark Lord Ember on “a night of DESTINY.” He strikes a deal with a mysterious orange cat, agreeing to not only watch her kittens, but train them in the ways of evil. Ember’s lust for power comes at a bad time, though—his human Lucy Chin’s eighth birthday is three days away, and he needs to find her the perfect present. Before he can scheme up a solution with the other Chin family pets, a box of kittens appears in the yard. Worse, Ogre—a neighborhood cat with a sourpuss attitude—seems intent on sabotaging everything. All signs point to cat-astrophe unless Ember and friends can save the day—and find Lucy the right gift. Tan Shiau Wei’s black-and-white illustrations complement the laugh-out-loud chaos with cinematic cartoon scenes. Lucy’s birthday-planning conversations lightly touch on fears of classmates yucking her yum (red bean and green tea ice cream). Tan deftly steers the plot—and other kids’ responses—into an affirming rather than othering experience. The Chin family is cued Chinese. Party attendees are diverse in skin tone and include Lucy’s brown-skinned friend Arjun and his two dads.
A furball of nonstop feline fun. (questions and activities) (Humor. 6-8)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781338756401
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Branches/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends
Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”
When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.
A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absolute pleasure.
A small dog takes a huge leap.
True to her name, sled dog puppy Leap spends her days bounding happily through blankets of freshly fallen snow, bouncily biding her time until she, too, can suit up for a run with the team. Each dog brings a different, equally essential skill to the work of mushing, and as too-young Leap greets the pack when they return from their daily hike, she worries—what if she lacks a special talent of her own when it’s her time to race? But when the much-anticipated day arrives and Leap clips in for her rookie run, her feet tippity-tap excitedly, any trace of self-doubt eclipsed by her irrepressible enthusiasm. With their new addition in tow, the other dogs take off, buoyed as ever by a confidence borne from specialized expertise; they confront obstacles head-on, sailing easily along icy Northwoods terrain. That is until the team encounters a seemingly insurmountable hurdle, one that only their greenest member can clear. Dogsled racer Braverman’s sweet narrative builds a satisfying case for individuality as a community asset, celebrating both the value of teamwork and the discrete strengths that comprise it. Savvy readers will take pride in predicting Leap’s unique contribution, while canine lovers will delight in the revelation that the pups depicted are all real-life sled dogs working in northern Wisconsin. When’s illustrations are equal parts spellbinding and precious, deftly balancing compositional simplicity with masterful color work. The result is peerless.
An absolute pleasure. (author’s note) (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9780063238053
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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