Unconditional love and security abound.
As they move through a dark wintry landscape, a parent promises to protect their child in every way.
Together, the tan-skinned pair count the stars, “tiptoe over ice / tumble through the snow,” and push through the winds. Through it all, the adult promises, “I’ll be your polar bear.” The two humans seem to morph into an adult polar bear and a young cub. The bears skate on the ice, crunch through the snow, and cuddle in ice caves, with the adult bear draping a paw over the little one. The parent bear echoes the human: “I promise and I swear / that I’ll be your polar bear.” If the little one is alone in the sea on an ice patch, the parent promises to rescue them, and if the cub is too tired to walk, then a piggyback ride will be the way home. As the story draws to a close, the figures are seen approaching their house and then safe and warm inside. The parent’s voice narrates the tale in gentle, first-person rhyming verses. Groenink’s beautiful, wintry, blue-lit illustrations bring the action to life in a variety of illustrations. Some images are full-page, while some pages are made up of horizontal panels; vignettes framed in white are also included as well as several text-free pages. At one moment, toward the end, as the parent and child enter the house, shadows make it unclear if the figures are humans or bears; what’s never uncertain, however, is the duo’s love for each other. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Unconditional love and security abound. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-525-51639-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
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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