Reviews
Kirkus Reviews - At the Marsh in the Meadow
A simple text slowly adds members of a marsh food chain, “House That Jack Built”-style, from mud to raptors. A serene double-page spread with vivid sunrise colors and an early morning mist proclaims: “This is the marsh / in the middle of the meadow.” Equally… View →
Foreword Reviews - Papa's Backpack
The separation of a military parent from his or her children can be very painful. This simple story about a young bear wishing he could ride in his father’s backpack as he goes to war is highly relatable and beautifully represents the fear and loss felt by children of military parents.… View →
School Library Journal - Grandma's Christmas Wish
Like the author’s previous Grandma Loves You (Sleeping Bear, 2013), this picture book is a love letter from a grandmother rabbit to her young bunny grandchild. Simple rhyming text (“You fill up my heart/with holiday cheer./I love you, my love,/my snowflake, my dear”) addressed to the… View →
School Library Journal - The Little Kids' Table
Food fights, chewing with one’s mouth open, elbows on the table: all common sights at the kids’ table. Just in time for the holiday season, this rhyming story brings readers of all ages to the fun table where the food is good and the company is better. Though some of the rhymes and… View →
School Library Journal - The Nutcracker's Night Before Christmas
The night before the Christmas day performance of The Nutcracker, disaster strikes. The programs are misprinted. Costumes are torn. The stagehands get sick. Fortunately, Santa and his elves are on hand to save the day. Told in the familiar anapestic tetrameter of Clement Moore’s “Twas… View →
Kirkus Reviews - Grandma's Nursery Rhymes: Old MacDonald
The American classic is presented with some cuddly illustrations. The nursery song “Old MacDonald” is known to millions young and old, and this board book does it justice, or at least one stanza of it. Illustrator Brown brings to it the same warmth she used in her… View →
Donovan's Literary Services - Love from a Star
Katherine Cutchin Gazzetta’s picture book rhyming story Love From a Star (9781585369508, $14.99) will appeal to a wide age range and provides a simple, warm, religious account as it tells of a shining star that reminds a bear and a bunny that they are loved and never alone, because View →
Kirkus Reviews - Frog and Friends Celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve
Frog and his animal pals celebrate the winter holidays in this latest in Bunting’s early-reader series. In the Thanksgiving story, Frog and his regular crew of friends invite a host of additional critters to join them, from crickets to a hippo. Some animals are afraid of being… View →
Kirkus Reviews - Grandma's Christmas Wish
A gray grandma bunny expresses her love for her little bunny grandbaby in this sweetly sentimental sequel to Grandma Loves You! (2013). The short, gracefully rhyming text is written in first person from the grandma’s point of view, stating her love for her grandchild in different… View →
School Library Journal - Leopold the Lion
Jack and Ella discover a lion doing somersaults on their backyard trampoline and want to keep him. While the siblings easily sneak the wild feline past their distracted parents, their grandpa knowingly quips, “Doesn’t look like an indoor cat to me.” After Leopold is fed a misguided diet… View →