Published by Greenwillow

Summary:  Kenny’s day is described in four stories: getting dressed for school; overcoming his fear of the vacuum cleaner; practicing soccer with his sister; and getting ready for bed.  Each story is marked with a colored page, the color often showing up again through that story.  The final page has Kenny sleepily climbing into bed, making this a perfect bedtime story.  40 pages; ages 3-6.

Pros:  Even the youngest readers will relate to Kenny’s stories which include a loving family who enjoy Kenny’s humor and reassure him about his fears.  The illustrations are deceptively simple, with the same colors and objects appearing throughout the stories.

Cons:  Bedtime also appears deceptively simple.

Published by Candlewick

Summary:  It’s after hours at the big museum when a tiny creature darts out of the shadows.  It’s Dakota Crumb, mouse treasure hunter, following his map to find the treasure marked by an X.  As he travels toward his destination, he finds a few other valuable items (a postage stamp and an action figure) that he pops into his knapsack.  At last, in the Ancient Egypt exhibit, after staring down the cat statue, he finds what he came for: the valuable purple gumdrop.  His mission accomplished, Dakota hurries back to his mouse house, which turns out to be a museum in its own right.  Dakota’s treasures are on display for the crowd of animals that comes to visit in the morning.  Includes pictures of small items in the museum that Dakota did and did not find; kids can go back to the story to see if they can spot them.  32 pages; ages 3-7.

Pros:  I would have loved this book so much as a kid, when I was kind of obsessed with miniature animals and creating imaginary worlds for them (okay, I still may have some of those tendencies).  The language almost rhymes, with lots of bounce and energy to match Dakota’s, and the illustrations give an excellent introduction to what’s in an art museum.  The puzzle pages at the end add to the fun.

Cons:  I didn’t quite understand where the gumdrop had been hidden.

Published by Candlewick

Summary:  Fallon, accompanying her mother to a Port-au-Prince market, wants desperately to carry the panye, the basket her mother and other women and girls carry on their heads.  When Fallon tries to carry it, the panye falls to the floor, and her mother reminds her to be patient: “Little by little, the bird builds its nest.”  After buying food for the family dinner and packing it into the panye, Fallon has another try at carrying it on her head, but before long the vegetables are lying in the road.  Her patient mother loads it back again, and this time Fallon is successful.  Walking tall and proud, she arrives home where she is met with the admiration of her little sister, who is now eager to try carrying the panye.  Includes an author’s note about the panye, Haiti, and her connection (her husband is from Haiti).  40 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  Fallon and her mother serve as excellent ambassadors to introduce readers to Haiti, beautifully pictured in the colorful illustrations.  There’s also a good lesson in patience and perseverance.

Cons:  I wish there had been translations for the French (Creole?) words in the text and illustrations.

Published by Norton Young Readers

Summary:  In this follow-up to The Old Truck, the Pumphrey brothers show a boat through its years of service as a fishing vessel.  Initially, a boy and his mother (or grandmother) fish in the waters off the coast of an island; as time passes, the boy grows up.  He now fishes alone, and must go further and further out to sea to find fish as the waters around the island grow increasingly polluted.  After a storm at sea, readers see the boat under the water with a hole in the bottom, and a “new sailor” who turns the tide by cleaning up the island.  As he works with others to restore the beach and ocean, readers can see the old boat underwater, gradually decaying and becoming part of the seascape.  On the final page, an old man stands on the island with a young girl, both of them fishing in the coastal waters.  56 pages; ages 4-9.

Pros:  You had me at “book about an old vehicle by the Pumphrey brothers”.  Like The Old Truck, this tells the story of a family and shows the passage of time through the illustrations, created with similar handcrafted stamps.  There is also a subtly conveyed environmental message.  I was hoping for a Caldecott honor for you, Pumphrey brothers, but do not give up…maybe 2022 will be your year!

Cons:  I found the reference to the “new sailor” a bit confusing.  Was it really a new (different) sailor, or the same old one who became like a new person after a near death experience?  I tend to think the latter, but kids may take it more literally.