Masterful meta goofiness.
In the second offering in the picture-book series spun off from the popular graphic novels starring laid-back Narwhal and stuffy pal Jelly, Jelly embarks on a campaign against silliness.
Jelly has clear ideas about what kind of book this is and browbeats readers accordingly: “I’m a very serious sort of jellyfish. And this is a very serious sort of book. So no smiling. And no laughing! Ahem! Was that laughter?!” Jelly’s grinchiness extends to prohibiting goofy faces and sounds—rules that Jelly finds that someone off page keeps breaking. Jelly even uses a blackboard to list “SERIOUS SUBJECTS”; the list includes “formal wear,” which the enterprising unseen jokester has changed to read “underwear.” Could this be the same jokester who gives Jelly a fuzzy pink mustache? And say, is that a narwhal flipper that keeps appearing at the edge of the page? Toward book’s end, Narwhal finally appears in full and gets Jelly to loosen up—enough to violate the no-silly-sounds rule with a “TOOT!,” complete with yellow fart cloud. The cycle of finger-wagging followed by insolence is unremitting and hilarious, and Clanton has landed on the right pace and art. Jelly, a simply drawn light-blue invertebrate, is centered on almost every page, holding forth with all-caps pronouncements as the unseen Narwhal sneakily introduces silly variables (striped socks do go nicely with a pink mustache) in an effort to get the book’s sententious slimy star to mellow out.
Masterful meta goofiness. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2026
ISBN: 9781774886588
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2026
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.
Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.
Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.
More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781464268076
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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