~ Reviewed by Amanda Smith
 
A WHALE OF A MISTAKE by Ioana Hobai (Page Street Kids, 2020) is a picture book about how anxiety can inflate a mistake to colossal proportions. The story gently  conveys how to find perspective and regain control. The protagonist makes a mistake which grows into a whale that swallows the protagonist and takes it out to sea. Along this wild ride, the protagonist feels trapped, powerless, and scared, but through observation and self-reflection, learns and grows, and eventually becomes brave enough to move on.

Hobai cleverly uses the whale, something concrete that young children can comprehend, as a metaphor for abstract, hard to pin-point emotions of guilt, anxiety and self-doubt. The watercolor illustrations bring the whale metaphor to life, and enhances the emotions through tumultuous swirls and stormy washes. The color story moves from dark bruise-like colors in the beginning towards light, bright and cheerful colors towards the end, reinforcing the emotional journey.  A WHALE OF A MISTAKE is written in simple language, making it easily accessible to young readers, yet the content is universal which makes this a great conversation starter for readers of any age regarding regret and self-reflection.
 
ON WRITING:
A WHALE OF A MISTAKE deals with universal emotions and themes. By writing the book in the second person, removing the need for gender specific pronouns, and addressing the reader directly, Hobai makes this a book with which all readers can identify.

Review by Annie Cronin Romano
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After couples marry, most go on a honeymoon to enjoy time together--just the two of them--before returning to the business of everday life. But what about when a baby is born? The arrival of a new little one is often paired with pressure to share every moment, be it through social media or a constant flow of visits from relatives and friends. Amidst the excitement, the importance of having new family time is often lost. This need to take time to bond as a family is the focus of Hayley Barrett's debut picture book, BABYMOON (Candlewick, 2019). A couple and their newborn are depicted, cherishing each moment and learning from first experiences, joys, doubts, and amazements. In BABYMOON, Barrett's lyrical text is warm and reassuring. The value of taking a "babymoon" to spend quality time together with your little bundle is lovingly highlighted with a sweet, lulling rhythm. Juana Martinez-Neal's illustrations, using smooth, curved lines and a neutral pallet of yellows and browns, are as soft and cozy as a baby's blanket. Visually soothing and with text that hums like a sweet lullaby, BABYMOON is one picture book every new family should hold close to the heart. (Fiction picture book for ages 2-5) 

On Writing
Hayley Barrett’s debut is a strong example of sparse, lyrical text with stunning impact and beauty.

For more information on Hayley Barrett’s work, visit https://hayleybarrett.com/about-hayley/.
​To learn more about Juana Martinez-Neal's work, visit her website at http://juanamartinezneal.com/.

Review by Francine Puckly
 
This book pick begins with a disclaimer—all of us at 24 Carrot Writing have been intimately involved with Annie Cronin Romano’s debut picture book, Before You Sleep: A Bedtime Book of Gratitude (Page Street Kids, 2018). This included reading and critiquing numerous drafts as Annie journeyed with this story from rhyme to free-verse and back again. Despite that by the very nature of our involvement we are biased toward this story, this picture book is an enchanting, rhythmic and comforting story about tucking in one’s senses before dropping into the night’s slumber. 
 
Annie gently takes the readers and young listeners of the story through the sounds, scents, tastes, sights, and touches experienced during the day. Ioana Hobai’s soft and luscious illustrations add to the calming effect. Before You Sleep is a perfect way for helping little ones mentally wrap up their day and establishing a bedtime mindset. This book will delight young readers and parents alike! 

 ​Review by Amanda Smith
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Often, in order to help preschoolers make sense of their world, adults organize things into perfectly logical groups. As children grow and learn, they discover the lines between these groups are blurred, and sometimes well-defined groups become barriers. Xander Panda learns a similar lesson when he wants to throw a bear affair, but discovers his friend, Koala, is not a bear. XANDER'S PANDA PARTY (Clarion Books; 2013) is a fun rhyming picture book about inclusivity and what happens when we expand our borders.

Written by Newbery medalist Linda Sue Park and illustrated by Matt Phelan, XANDER'S PANDA PARTY is an attention grabbing read-aloud pleasure. The text dances off the tongue with a happy rhythm and playful rhyme. Flawless, whimsical internal and end rhyme make this book titillating to read, and provide enough silly-factor to satisfy young readers (and listeners).

The humorous, ink and watercolor illustrations further enhance the read. Each animal is illustrated with considered character: Show-off black bear, shy grizzly, an adorable polar bear pair, a cuddly baby penguin, a tower of turtles that will melt your heart, and of course, Xander himself with bucket loads of personality. Young readers will take pleasure at each page turn when they are introduced to new animals, and Xander’s growing party conundrum.
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Xander’s Panda Party is a perfect choice for story time and is definitely one of those books adults won’t mind to read again, and again, and one more time please.

Review By Kelly Carey

Whether you are 5 or 50, we all have a Snurtch that we must contend with and control. In Sean Ferrell’s THE SNURTCH, Ruthie is struggling to manage her Snurtch, a wonderful personification of her bad temper and poor behavior. Ruthie’s Snurtch causes big trouble at school...trouble for which Ruthie takes the blame.

Ferrell’s book offers a platform for discussing those moments when we are not at our best. It is much easier to assess our own actions if we can blame our poor choices on a Snurtch, an ever present goblin of sorts that causes trouble. Ruthie’s Snurtch pulls her hair and makes her grumpy. He makes her run in the classroom and push her classmates. When she burps back at the Snurtch or returns his tongue out face, Ruthie ends up alone on the playground or relegated to the teacher’s time-out chair.

Who can’t relate to being blamed for something you didn’t do? The Snurtch did it!

But as Ruthie looks hard at the Snurtch, Ferrell finds a unique plot twist to show that Ruthie is ready to claim responsibility for the Snurtch. Ruthie transforms the Snurtch from a scapegoat for her misdeeds to a safe way to say “I’m sorry.”

THE SNURTCH is a wonderful, whimsical, and humorous character, conjured up with the same care as the imaginary bunny Harvey who landed Jimmy Steward in a looney bin – lucky for Ruthie, she found a way not only to own her Snurtch, but she found classmates who have Snurtch issues of their own.

On Writing
Ferrell has taken a universal childhood problem – managing our behavior and impulses – and wrapped this complex problem up in simple straightforward text. His plot is complex, which keeps the pages turning and the story interesting – but the easy flowing text meets the readers at just the right level.

What could be simpler and yet more provoking than an opening line that reads “Ruthie has a problem at school”?

What I find most intriguing about this book is the wonderful marriage between the author’s words and the illustrations. While the book is illustrated with Ruthie and her classmates in fun and realistic artwork, the troublesome Snurtch is a crayon scribble that interacts with the other drawings like the cartoon Roger Rabbit walking amidst live action scenes and actors. The result is a clever visual representation of how the enigma of our mood and behavior can have a drastic effect on our everyday life.

Read Ferrell’s wonderful picture book, and get a grip on your Snurtch.

​Reviewed by Annie Cronin Romano

In this spirited follow-up to Sophie’s Squash, Sophie is off to school, toting her closest friends, two squash named Bonnie and Baxter, along with her. Sophie’s devotion to her squash makes it difficult for her to bond with the other children in her class. Even a boy who brings his beloved stuffed frog to school can’t win Sophie over. As Sophie’s two squash start to fade, she realizes that making room for human friends is an important part of life.

SOPHIE’S SQUASH GO TO SCHOOL (Schwartz & Wade Books, 2016) follows Sophie as she learns to open her mind and heart to making new friends. Colorful, lively illustrations by Anne Wilsdorf perfectly depict Sophie’s progress as she moves from sharing adventures with her two squash to growing relationships with her classmates. Miller’s text and Wilsdorf’s illustrations blend flawlessly to convey a sweet tale of learning how to welcome new friends. SOPHIE’S SQUASH GO TO SCHOOL is picture book for children ages 3-7. Get your hands on this well-crafted sequel and make some new friends of your own!

On Writing:
In SOPHIE’S SQUASH GO TO SCHOOL, Miller creates a sequel which flows beautifully from Sophie’s Squash yet creates a unique adventure for Sophie. Lessons Sophie learned in the first book are carried over into this follow-up in a seamless, subtle way. 
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For more information on Pat Zietlow Miller’s work, visit her website at www.patzietlowmiller.com or check out her June 2016 guest blog on this site at http://www.24carrotwriting.com/-blog/guest-blogger-pat-zietlow-miller-talks-sequels. 

For info on Anne Wilsdorf’s work, visit her website at www.studiogoodwinsturges.com/anne-wilsdorf1.html.

Review by Kelly Carey

Be prepared to laugh uncontrollably at Mother Bruce and the growing goslings who climb on him, tug at him, become troublesome teenagers, are annoyingly adorable and will absolutely not leave Bruce alone.  Bruce is not your average bear in the forest. He finds recipes on the internet, shops with a shopping cart, and sets out to make hard-boiled goose eggs with a honey salmon sauce. Before he can boil the eggs, they hatch and Bruce becomes a very grumpy, growling, furrowed brow Mother Bruce. He tries desperately to ditch the goslings who lovingly tail him all over the forest.

The illustrations alone will have you howling. Add in a story line filled with humor that appeals to kids and adults alike and the result is a belly laugh inducing picture book that will make you wish for goose eggs that hatch.
 
On Writing

Higgins’ Mother Bruce is masterfully plotted. The page turns are fast paced, and the creative story line zigs and zags with a wonderful unpredictability. The writing follows the number one rule established by the writers of South Park. The South Park writers advise that the beats between your scenes should connect with the words “therefore”, and “but then” rather than the snooze worthy “and then”.  (You can watch them discuss this during a guest lecture at NYU using the button below. But beware; the language is colorful so have your bar of soap handy.)

Higgins has achieved this plot rule brilliantly and the result is a thoroughly entertaining story that keeps the reader anxious, frazzled and laughing hysterically.
 

Review by Amanda Smith
​Bridget loves to draw and paint, but her most important art staple is her black beret, exactly like Cezanne or Picasso wore. When a wisp of wind whisks Bridget’s beret off her head, over the fence and out of sight, Bridget is convinced that she is no longer able to draw. Bridget is is stuck in artist’s block, until her little sister asks her to make a sign for their lemonade stand. Since it’s not technically drawing, Bridget agrees, and finds her way back to her art.
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BRIDGET'S BERET by Tom Lichtenheld (Henry Holt and Company, 2010) is a rich and layered text. On the surface there is the straight forward story of Bridget losing her beret and her art mojo along with it. Puns and smart interactions between text and illustration add a deeper layer to the story.