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WORK TITLE: Trouble Dog
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WEBSITE: https://larrydayillustration.com/
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COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 300
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PERSONAL
Born 1956, in Gibson City, IL; married (marriage ended); married Miriam Busch (a children’s book author), 2013; children: (first marriage) Andrew, Peter; (stepchildren) Sam, Noah.
EDUCATION:Southern Illinois University, A.A. (commercial art), 1978; studied oil painting with Gerald Merfeld.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Illustrator. Technical illustrator for a farming manufacturer in Gibson City, IL; Harned Von Maur, Moline, IL, former layout artist; illustrator for pinball and video arcade industry; Leo Burnett Advertising Agency, Chicago, IL, storyboard artist, beginning 1987; Sopris Sun, Carbondale, CO, cartoonist and artist, c. 2019-. Exhibitions: Watercolor paintings have been exhibited in numerous solo shows, including at Society of Illustrators—New York.
MEMBER:Society of Illustrators—New York, Illustrator’s Partnership of America, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
AWARDS:Gold medal, Society of Illustrators—New York; Teachers’ Choice selection, International Reading Association (IRA), 2006, for Let It Begin Here! by Dennis B. Fradin; Golden Kite Award, 2006, for Not Afraid of Dogs by Susanna Pitzer; Best Children’s Books listee, Bank Street College of Education, 2006, and Monarch Award, 2008, both for George Did It by Suzanne Tripp Jurmain; Carol Otis Hurst Book Prize and IRA Teachers’ Choice selection, both 2009, and numerous state award nominations, all for Colonial Voices by Kay Winters; Best Cover, Colorado Press Association, 2021; Best In-House Ad Campaign, Colorado Press Association Network, 2022; Illustration Annual Award of Excellence, Communication Arts, 2024, for ad campaign cartoons and art direction.
WRITINGS
Writer and illustrator of “Mr. Oswald” (comic strip; created by Russell Johnson in 1929), published in Do-It-Yourself Retailing, 1989-2007.
SIDELIGHTS
An accomplished illustrator and storyboard artist, Larry Day has contributed artwork to more than two dozen children’s books, focusing on historical subjects in Dennis Brindell Fradin’s Duel! Burr and Hamilton’s Deadly War of Words and Suzanne Tripp Jurmain’s Worst of Friends: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the True Story of an American Feud. Day has also provided the illustrations for several fictional tales, among them Lion, Lion, a tale penned by his wife, Miriam Busch.
Day earned praise for his work on William’s House, featuring a story by Ginger Howard. Set in New England in 1637, William’s House focuses on a English settler’s efforts to recreate his family home in the New World. “Careful observation of the accurate paintings lends perspective and information on daily life” in seventeenth-century America, Pamela K. Bomboy remarked in her School Library Journal review of the book.
Stephen Krensky examines the political and economic agendas that led to the fateful events of December 7, 1941 in Pearl Harbor, and here Day’s “pen-and-ink and pastel-wash illustrations … are realistic and detailed,” as Susan Lissim observed in School Library Journal. Kay Winters depicts a cross-country wagon-train journey in Voices from the Oregon Trail, another of his illustration projects. Day’s ink-and-watercolor “paintings, particularly the spread of the entire wagon train, capture the panoramic prairie vistas and enhance the speakers’ accounts,” reported School Library Journal reviewer Kathy Piehl.
In The Monitor: The Iron Warship That Changed the World author Gare Thompson chronicles the history of the famed U.S. Civil War gunboat and describes efforts to locate and raise the wreck of the ship from its resting place off the coast of North Carolina. According to Booklist reviewer Carolyn Phelan, “Day’s attractive illustrations“ for the book “enhance the drama and clarify details.” Also set amid the U.S. war between North and South, Verla Kay’s Civil War Drummer Boy examines the rigor of combat through the eyes of Johnny, a youngster who joins the Confederate Army. Day’s paintings “bring the text alive with details of military life, fierce expressions of men fighting, and a way of life lost to the war,” as Elizabeth C. Larson explained in her review of the work for School Library Journal.
Day’s work as an illustrator includes George Did It, a somewhat humorous tale by Suzanne Tripp Jurmain that focuses on General George Washington’s reluctant agreement to become the first president of the United States. A Publishers Weekly reviewer commented of this book that Day’s “grainy, animated art captures the text’s cheerfulness and helps to put an appealing, human face on this larger-than-life leader.”
In Jurmain’s Worst of Friends the author explores the complicated relationship between two of the nation’s founding fathers. Adams and Jefferson’s “personal and political lives are energized by Day’s lightly caricatured watercolor cartoons, which flesh out their personalities,” a writer noted in Publishers Weekly. Jurmain profiles U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Nice Work, Franklin!, showing how he overcame a physical handicap to lead the nation through the Great Depression. A critic in Kirkus Reviews observed that Day’s gouache, pencil, and watercolor illustrations for Jurmain’s tale “take advantage of opportunities for lightness … while sounding appropriately somber notes when called for.”
Day earned a Golden Kite award for his contribution to Susanna Pitzer’s Not Afraid of Dogs, in which a young boy confronts his worst fear when his aunt’s pet comes to visit. Day’s pictures “allow kids, dog-phobic or not, to both sympathize with Daniel’s fear and laugh at it,” remarked Horn Book contributor Jennifer M. Brabander. Sibling rivalry is the focus of Bye-Bye, Baby!, an easy reader by Richard Morris that comes to life in “Day’s emotional watercolors,” according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor.
A day of ice fishing turns into a round-the-world adventure for two boys and their trusty dog in Ned Crowley’s Nanook and Pryce: Gone Fishing. “The comic details in the lively, cartoon-style illustrations will encourage repeat visits,” Randall Enos declared in his Booklist review of Crowley’s exciting story. In Lion, Lion, a tale about a youngster’s amusing encounter with a ravenous big cat, readers benefit from “plenty of chuckle-worthy illustrations” by Day, according to School Library Journal critic Laura Stanfield.
Day’s contribution to Fradin’s Let It Begin Here! Lexington and Concord: First Battles of the American Revolution captures the drama in the tumultuous events of April 18th and 19th, 1775. According to Phelan, the book’s pen-and-ink and watercolors “highlight the human drama implicit in the text.” The creative talents of author and artist were also paired in Duel!, which follows the deadly feud between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. “Day’s ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations beautifully pace the narrative,” Betty Carter reported in appraising Duel! for Horn Book, and they “highlight … the hostility between the two by shifting perspectives throughout.”
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After several years in which Day focused on his work for advertising campaigns and a Colorado newspaper, he returned to illustrating children’s books with Carol A. Foote’s Trouble Dog: From Shelter Dog to Conservation Hero. The story is based on the real-life dogs of Working Dogs for Conservation. In this fictional tale, Tucker keeps waiting for someone to adopt him from the shelter, but his rambunctious nature means that people think he might be too much trouble. Then a trainer named Laura decides to adopt him and teach him how to find rosy wolf snails, an invasive species in Hawaii that hides under leaves. After that success, Tucker ends up traveling around the world helping conservationists. A contributor in Kirkus Reviews called the story a “fascinating, feel-good tale” and “perfect for reading out loud.” They appreciated how Foote combines “humor, heart, suspense, and adventure.” They described Day’s illustrations as “vibrant watercolors” that “capture Tucker in constant motion.”
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BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklinks, July, 2005, Carolyn Phelan, review of Let It Begin Here! Lexington and Concord: First Battles of the American Revolution, p. 8; January-February, 2006, Laura Tillotson, review of George Did It, p. 28.
Booklist, May 15, 2000, Carolyn Phelan, review of Taking Flight: The Story of the Wright Brothers, p. 1740; March 15, 2001, Connie Fletcher, review of William’s House, p. 1400; May 15, 2003, Eva Mitnick, review of Yankee Doodle and the Redcoats: Soldiering in the Revolutionary War, p. 1657; December 15, 2003, Carolyn Phelan, review of The Monitor: The Iron Warship That Changed the World, p. 748; December 15, 2005, Carolyn Phelan, review of George Did It, p. 47; June 1, 2006, Carolyn Phelan, review of Not Afraid of Dogs, p. 88; May 15, 2008, Ilene Cooper, review of Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak, p. 44; June 1, 2008, Hazel Rochman, review of Duel! Burr and Hamilton’s Deadly War of Words, p. 96; September 1, 2009, Randall Enos, review of Nanook and Pryce: Gone Fishing, p. 100; September 15, 2009, Hazel Rochman, review of Bye-Bye, Baby!, p. 62; December 1, 2011, Carolyn Phelan, review of Worst of Friends: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the True Story of an American Feud, p. 51; February 15, 2014, Carolyn Phelan, review of Voices from the Oregon Trail, p. 69; January 1, 2016, Carolyn Phelan, review of Nice Work, Franklin!, p. 66.
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, February, 2006, Elizabeth Bush, review of George Did It, p. 270;.
Horn Book, July-August, 2006, Jennifer M. Brabander, review of Not Afraid of Dogs, p. 429; July-August, 2008, Betty Carter, review of Duel!, p. 465; November-December, 2009, Robin L. Smith, review of Nanook and Pryce, p. 651.
Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2005, review of Let it Begin Here!, p. 416; November 15, 2005, review of George Did It, p. 1234; May 15, 2006, review of Not Afraid of Dogs, p. 522; June 15, 2008, review of Duel!; August 15, 2009, Richard Morris, review of Bye-Bye, Baby!; October 1, 2009, review of Nanook and Pryce; December 1, 2013, review of Voices from the Oregon Trail; July 15, 2014, review of Lion, Lion; November 1, 2015, review of Nice Work, Franklin!; January 15, 2017, review of Raisin, the Littlest Cow; November 1, 2017, review of Voices from the Underground Railroad; August 15, 2018, review of Found; December 1, 2018, review of Bim, Bam, Bop . . . Oona; April 15, 2019, review of My Fourth of July; July 15, 2019, review of Beware!; December 15, 2024, review of Trouble Dog: From Shelter Dog to Conservation Hero.
Publishers Weekly, November 14, 2005, review of George Did It, p. 68; November 9, 2009, reviews of Nanook and Pryce and Gone Fishing, both p. 45; October 24, 2011, review of Worst of Friends, p. 53; October 5, 2020, review of A Fort on the Moon.
School Library Journal, March, 2001, Pamela Bomboy, review of William’s House, p. 212; July, 2001, Susan Lissim, review of Pearl Harbor, p. 95; May, 2002, Anne Chapman Callaghan, review of Who Was Annie Oakley?, p. 144; January, 2004, Jennifer Ralston, review of Yankee Doodle and the Redcoats, p. 140; July, 2005, Elaine Fort Weischedel, review of Let It Begin Here!, p. 89; December, 2005, Julie R. Ranelli, review of George Did It, p. 130; July, 2006, Kathleen Kelly MacMillan, review of Not Afraid of Dogs, p. 84; June, 2008, Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, review of Colonial Voices, p. 169; July, 2008, Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, review of Duel!, p. 112; November, 2009, Anne Beier, review of Bye-Bye, Baby!, p. 84; January, 2010, Susan Weitz, review of Nanook and Pryce, p. 70; November, 2011, Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, review of Worst of Friends, p. 100; May, 2012, Elizabeth C. Larson, review of Civil War Drummer Boy, p. 76; February, 2014, Kathy Piehl, review of Voices from the Oregon Trail, p. 128; August, 2014, Laura Stanfield, review of Lion Lion, p. 66; January, 2016, review of Nice Work, Franklin!, p. 118.
ONLINE
Larry Day website, http://larrydayillustration.com (July 24, 2025).
Larry Day Fine Art website, https://larrydayfineart.com/about/ (July 24, 2025).
Sopris Sun, https://soprissun.com/ (June 16, 2021), Jeanne Souldern, author profile.
Larry Day is the award-winning picture book illustrator of both fiction and non-fiction. His 2014 release: Lion Lion, by Miriam Busch, Balzer + Bray (NPR’s Best Books For 2014, an Illinois Reads Selection for 2015, an Indie Bound Next List and Junior Library Guild Selection). His second picture book with Miriam Busch for Balzer + Bray is titled: Raisin, The Littlest Cow, 2017, also an Illinois Reads Selection. Day also illustrated the non-fiction title, Nice Work, Franklin! a picture book about FDR, his third by Suzanne Tripp Jurmain for Dial, February, 2016. He also illustrated his third picture book with Kay Winters: Voices of the Underground Railroad, Dial, 2017. Found., by Jeff Newman, Simon & Schuster, November 20, 2018, received 4 Starred reviews, the Golden Kite Honor Award, 2019, The Gold Standard from The Junior Library Guild, 2019, Bim Bam Bop and Oona, a picture book by Jacqueline Briggs Martin will be released by the University of Minnesota Press, in 2019. Day is also illustrating, My Fourth of July, a picture book by Jerry Spinelli, Holiday House, 2019 and Beware! a picture book by Bob Raschka, Charlesbridge, 2019. A Fort on the Moon, by Maggie Pouncey, Holiday House, Neal Porter Books, 2020. His most recent title, Trouble Dog, by Carol A. Foote, Eerdmans released Fall 2025.
Day also illustrated Not Afraid Of Dogs by Suzanna Pitzer winner of the 2006 Golden Kite Award; Colonial Voices, Hear Them Speak winner of 7 state awards, the Carol Otis Hurst Book Prize, 2008, the Delaware Diamonds Master List, 2009-2010. and Voices From The Oregon Trail also by Kay Winters; he illustrated Duel! Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr’s Deadly War Of Words and Let It Begin Here! First Battles of the American Revolution both by Dennis Fradin; George Did It! by Suzzane Tripp Jurmain received the Monarch Award Master list, 2008-2009, Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, 2006, Booklist Editor’s Choice, 2006; and Worst of Friends also by Suzanne Tripp Jurmain; Bye-Bye, Baby by Richard Morris; Nanook & Pryce by Ned Crowley; and Civil War Drummer Boy by Verla Kay.
Exhibition of the entire 20 illustrations and thumbnail sketches for Found., at the Children’s Book Illustrations: Visual Storytelling, The Mairer Museum of American Art at Randolph College, 2019. This was an exhibit with Sophie Blackall, Douglass Florian, Charles Vess, and Venessa Brantley-Newton where I gave a keynote lecture at the Berlind Symposium and a one-on-one talk with Charles Vess.
Day is also an award winning cartoonist for the Sopris Sun, a newspaper in Carbondale, Colorado where he won First Place for Best In-House ad campaign, Colorado Press Association Network, 2022, First Place, Investigative Story team, 2022, and Best Cover, Colorado Press Association Network, 2021.
Comminication Arts, 2024 Illustration Annual Award Of Excellence, A Beacon of Light ad campaign cartoons and art direction.
Larry Day was born and raised in Gibson City, Illinois, a rural farming community where he flunked high school Art. He received an Associate’s Degree in commercial art, and worked as a staff artist for pinball and video games before becoming a storyboard artist and picture book illustrator. Day is the recipient of 3 Gold medals from the Society Of Illustrators, and the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Not Afraid Of Dogs.
About
I find inspiration in the world around me and look for the richness in painting scenes that have a strong sense of visual storytelling.
Why do you make the art that you make?
When I draw and paint I am completely focused. I’m in a state of mind similar to mindfulness and meditation. All of my skills at observation come together on the paper. In fact, I am so completely engaged that I won’t even notice when the mountain lion eats me.
What inspires your work the most?
The movement of the world around us. The landscapes and the light, the motion of a river cascading over the rocks. The shifting light throughput the day, and the people moving in and out of their daily lives. Each of these tells its own story. I look for those moments.
When you’re creating new work, what is your general process?
Generally, I use Twinrocker Handmade watercolor paper for it’s random texture and bright white surface. That’s tacked down at each corner on a thick piece of foam core with push pins. While standing or sitting, I hold an opened watercolor pan box and a sponge in my left hand while also holding onto the piece of foam core. Following that, with my right hand I draw a quick pencil or sometimes not. I keep a few brushes in my can of water placed down on my right side. And paint.
What is your personal and/or artistic background?
There was always something I found to draw growing up in the small rural town of central Illinois. I had to do something in order to escape my chaotic household. At the time I had no idea that I was establishing drawing skills. I went on from there to work a long and winding career in illustration from drawing farm machinery parts manuals, to arcade games, to storyboards for TV commercials, drawing a cartoon strip, to illustrating picture books. All the while painting like a madman. I slept a full night a few years ago but I don’t remember exactly when that was.
What other artists or artworks inspire you?
Cartoonists inspire me for their skill at simplifying images and getting to the message. The way they eliminate the nonessential elements can be just as important as the gag itself. It’s always worth taking time studying their work.
I raise my glass to cartoonists.
Larry Day: thriving in the chaos
Jeanne Souldern
June 16, 2021
Cartoonist Larry Day carefully colors the 50th Carbondale Mountain Fair poster. Photo by Sue Rollyson.
Larry Day is a jack of all artistic trades and a master of many. A cartoonist, painter, children’s book illustrator, advertising storyboard designer, technical illustrator and arcade game creative designer. Now he can add another title to the list — Carbondale Mountain Fair poster/t-shirt design winner, on the event’s 50th golden anniversary, no less.
“It was a clear choice.” Carbondale Arts (CA) Executive Director Amy Kimberly said of Day’s winning design, featured on this week’s cover of The Sopris Sun.
Brian Colley, CA gallery manager, said 33 designs were submitted this year. The process begins with design sketches submitted by artists. “We realized it was a lot to ask the artists to come up with a final, finished design and then not be chosen,” he said.
As Day recalled, the design submission almost didn’t happen. Even though he knew about the contest, he was hesitant to submit an entry. When he found out the deadline was extended, he and his wife, Miriam, delayed a trip to Santa Fe by a day to complete his entry.
He did not have any design ideas until he thought about his own experience of attending Mountain Fair, recalling, “It feels like total chaos. It feels like you’re swimming in a sea of people and I thought it would be funny to show this sea of chaos and in the middle of it is this couple sitting in chairs relaxing.”
Of the design itself, Day said there are no references to specific people, except for one. There was a request to place Kimberly in the design, represented by a blue elephant wearing a tiara. He also interspersed a few of his Sopris Sun cartoon characters.
Kimberly said, “To me, Larry’s poster is the quintessential representation of the socializing aspect. He’s captured it — all 50 years of what that socializing meant.”
Day and his wife had visited Carbondale frequently over the years and decided to move here in 2019, selling their home in Oak Park, Illinois.
He continues working in his 30-plus year advertising career, drawing storyboards for television commercials for major companies, like McDonald’s, Hallmark and Allstate Insurance, to name a few.
In his hometown of Gibson City, Illinois, one of his first jobs was working for a farm implement manufacturer. The job included working with the research and development department to draw technical illustrations for parts manuals. Of his newspaper advertising illustration career, Day recalled, it was a seven-days-a-week job, and “it was murder.”
In the 1980s, while working for an advertising firm in Chicago, he was part of a design team that created artwork for pinball machines and video games, in the era before handheld games, for Gottlieb, an arcade game corporation.
Around 1995, Day reached out to a children’s book agent about doing illustrations. He currently has over 20 picture books published and has collaborated with his wife, an author, on two of them. A few are available for purchase at The Artique gift shop in The Launchpad.
He said his cartoon work, which you will frequently find in The Sopris Sun, counts French cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé as a significant influence. Regarding Sempé’s work, “He loves to work with chaos, and I do also. I think that’s one of my philosophical roots — it’s to take chaos and to control it,” he reflected.
“One of the things that has always influenced me, about all my art — has always been a stalwart in inspiration — has been cartoonists,” he said.
His wife, he said, first noticed that about his work: an attraction to chaos and refining it. He recalled her saying, “‘You know, when you draw, you start with such chaos and then you start simplifying it. And then you don’t only simplify it, but you control it.’”
Day added, “My home environment was very chaotic. And I think that’s not unusual. I think we observe things in a different way. We see things around the corner. There’s an intuitiveness that we have.”
Of his internal process of creating, Day said, “everything I do is connected by story.” He added, “A lot of times, when I was a kid, I would go out and just start drawing in the neighborhood. It was kind of important to get out of the house and do something for myself. You don’t really realize what you’re doing; if you’re doing something for yourself, you only realize later on how all that adds up.”
“I’ve always strived, in whatever I do, to not be mediocre. There’s a lot of that. You can tell when somebody should go in a different direction because the one they’ve been working at, they’re working too hard. That’s why I think doing different things helps you not be mediocre; it takes you out of that tar pit.”
Larry Day — mediocre? Never.
Day, Larry TROUBLE DOG Eerdmans (Children's None) $18.99 2, 25 ISBN: 9780802855817
A shelter dog finds a new job--and a home.
Tucker, a sweet-faced yellow pooch with floppy ears, loves to play. Relentlessly energetic and unintentionally destructive, he's a poor fit for most families. After he's returned to the animal shelter yet again, a worker warns prospective adopters that Tucker is "trouble." Then he meets Laura, a trainer who sees something special in him. She starts by using Tucker's favorite toy to teach him to find flowers among a row of cinder blocks. As Laura introduces new scents into the game, she's able to channel Tucker's curiosity, intensity, and obsessive focus on play into the skills necessary to locate invasive species and track rare or endangered creatures around the world. Vibrant watercolors capture Tucker in constant motion, whether in trashed living rooms or the jungles of Myanmar. The text, perfect for reading out loud, conveys Tucker's boundless capacity for destruction ("Rrr-rip! Splat! CRACK!"), dedication to his new assignment ("He zigzagged across the ground and kept searching until There!"), and bond with Laura ("'Keep looking,' Laura said. 'I trust Tucker'"). With humor, heart, suspense, and adventure, this story will win over animal lovers of all ages. Laura is light-skinned with brown hair; background characters are diverse. Backmatter notes that the book is based on the experiences of the real-life founders of Working Dogs for Conservation.
A fascinating, feel-good tale about the unique dogs trained for conservation work. (selected bibliography, photos)(Informational picture book. 4-8)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Day, Larry: TROUBLE DOG." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A819570196/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6aefb980. Accessed 13 June 2025.
Maggie Pouncey, illus. by Larry Day. Holiday House/Porter, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8234-4657-5
Tan-skinned brothers Dodge and Fox are planning an out-of-this-world construction project--younger sibling Dodge, the narrator, calls it "a home on the moon for all brave enough to use." Employing a broken umbrella, a pool noodle, two car seats, and other discards, they construct a spaceship on their home's widow's walk and head off on a lunar mission. Plainspoken lines detail the journey winningly ("Moondust sticks to everything. We're low on tape"), but, in this tribute to intimate sibling relationships, the imaginative adventure is almost beside the point. Watercolor and gouache pictures by Day (Found) have an immediacy that matches the brothers' confidence and unalloyed affection. Pouncey, making her picture book debut, contributes an astute, tender portrayal of the siblings' bond; Dodge adores and is comforted by his older brother, and together the two present a unified front against parents who are beloved but (at least in the children's eyes) clueless. "We lie in our beds, as still as moon craters," Dodge says, as the two wait to make their secret journey, "till we no longer hear our parents' soft voices and the ribbon of light beneath our door disappears into darkness." Ages 4-8. Author's agent: Jennifer Carlson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner. Illustrator's agent: Hannah Mann, Writers House. (Nov.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 PWxyz, LLC
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"A Fort on the Moon." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 40, 5 Oct. 2020, p. 140. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A639840915/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=826be1d0. Accessed 13 June 2025.
Raczka, Bob BEWARE! Charlesbridge (Children's Fiction) $15.99 10, 8 ISBN: 978-1-58089-683-2
The five letters in the title--two vowels and three consonants--spell out all the words necessary to tell the story of two animals usually at odds but who become steadfast friends.
A young bumblebee named Bree and a young bear named Abe are each cautioned by their parents to beware the other. Of course, they do not listen to this advice as they are each gathering flowers and have a painful encounter marked with a "RRRRR!" and an "EEEEE!" And it is a somewhat achy meeting at that, with each animal bemoaning its sore "rear" over several pages. Happily, this leads to mutual introductions, and, with the presentation of a flower, an endearing friendship. "Aww…." Day's watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations present two cuddly critters in a woodland setting with lots of close-ups of their facial expressions. White space effectively showcases the antics of Bree and Abe, allowing readers to easily follow their adventures. Children may enjoy pointing out each of the delimited letters in every word of the tale.
A cautionary tale that adults can take on one level but that children will enjoy at its most basic. (Picture book. 3-5)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Raczka, Bob: BEWARE!" Kirkus Reviews, 15 July 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A593064450/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b9dfb38f. Accessed 13 June 2025.
Spinelli, Jerry MY FOURTH OF JULY Neal Porter/Holiday House (Children's Fiction) $18.99 5, 14 ISBN: 978-0-8234-4288-1
An exuberant, old-time-y celebration of the Fourth of July.
An energetic young child breathlessly narrates the day, from waking up bursting with excitement to conking out after the fireworks. In between, Spinelli's nostalgic narrative hits all the expected notes. The child helps prepare the picnic (hot dogs and cherry pie, natch) and loads it into the little red wagon. A train festooned with bunting and pulled by a steam engine crosses Main Street. Once at the park, the family picnics and partakes in all the traditional Fourth of July activities, including face painting, sack racing, a concert in the bandstand, a visit to the zoo (this small-town park is extremely well-appointed), and, of course, the fireworks. Spinelli's present-tense text combines a childlike voice ("Mama hands me a banana. I'm so excited I forgot to eat breakfast") with poetic fervor ("My eyes cannot hold the wonders I see. My heart is cheering"). The only nods to patriotism are the abundant flags and mention of standing for "The Star-Spangled Banner." Day's small town is a Norman Rockwell-esque place of white frame houses and unleashed, well-behaved dogs. The narrator and family present white, while the narrator's best friend and some of the other festivalgoers are people of color.
Despite somewhat inclusive visuals, this book can't help feeling like it's stuck in amber. For a true celebration of America and its diversity, opt for Stephanie Parsley Ledyard and Jason Chin's Pie Is for Sharing (2018). (Picture book. 4-8)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Spinelli, Jerry: MY FOURTH OF JULY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A582144144/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ec82a9ca. Accessed 13 June 2025.
Martin, Jacqueline Briggs BIM, BAM, BOP... AND OONA Univ. of Minnesota (Children's Fiction) $16.95 2, 5 ISBN: 978-15179-0395-4
A farmyard duck who's not built for speed finds a way to win the morning race down to the pond.
Being big of chest and stubby of leg, Oona stands no chance against her three slimmer, longer-limbed fellow ducks in the morning rush. "Last is a blot on my life," she kvetches to her friend Roy the frog. "I don't feel as big as a duck should feel." But, as Roy reminds her, she is "good with gizmos," and maybe, just maybe she could concoct something to give her that needed boost? Good with gizmos she proves to be, and though the wobbly cart and the workout machine she cobbles together from unlikely assortments of junk stored in the shed fail to fill the bill, a climactic inspiration involving laundry, a basket, and a launch from the barn's roof really puts the wind beneath her wings (so to speak). Soon Bim, Bam, Bop, and even Roy are asking for rides. Martin tells the tale in rollicking cadences just right for reading aloud--"A gust of wind grabbed the sails and up she went. OOO-hoolie-hoo!"--and with fine comic flair Day sets the (more or less) naturalistically depicted tinkerer, every feather bristling with concentration, amid enticing jumbles of pulleys, ropes, and buckets of detritus.
Budding engineers of any species will agree that Oona has well earned the right to feel "just as big as a duck should feel." (Picture book. 6-8)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Martin, Jacqueline Briggs: BIM, BAM, BOP... AND OONA." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A563598623/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5d727929. Accessed 13 June 2025.
Newman, Jeff FOUND Simon & Schuster (Children's Fiction) $17.99 11, 20 ISBN: 978-1-5344-1006-0
After losing their own beloved pet, a young child finds and returns a lost puppy in this wordless picture book from Newman and Day.
On a rainy night, a forlorn pup wanders into a young child's view. The child doesn't hesitate to bring the little dog inside, and once the two are safe and dry inside, photos on the wall and a few abandoned dog toys reveal that the child has lost their own dog. The friendship between the pair is tentative at first, but as the little dog sweetly persists, the child's reticence melts away. But no sooner does the pair begin to bond than they come upon a flier with the pup's picture, and reluctantly the child gives up and returns their new friend. The quiet in this picture book goes far beyond a simple absence of words. The beautifully and visually crafted hush is a wellspring of emotion: the agony of loss, the exuberance of a sudden friendship, the resignation of a hard decision, and finally the guarded hope of a new beginning. Day's ink-and-watercolor illustrations shape the story and capture feeling--that most elusive of narrative dimensions--in effortless sequences of movement and masterful use of color and perspective. The child has fluffy, black hair and paper-white skin.
A story that will break hearts so it can put them back together. (Picture book. 3-7)
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"Newman, Jeff: FOUND." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A549923869/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9ffe2cd4. Accessed 13 June 2025.
Winters, Kay VOICES FROM THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD Dial (Children's Poetry) $18.99 1, 9 ISBN: 978-0-8037-4092-1
Jeb and Mattie, siblings living under slavery on a Maryland plantation, tell their story of escape on the Underground Railroad.
The story, told in alternating voices, opens in 1861 with Jeb, a blacksmith and slave, whose free black co-worker and friend, Sam, is part of the Underground Railroad. When Mattie, a house slave, overhears plans to sell Jeb, the siblings know they must run to avoid their mother's fate: being sold south. They follow the North Star to Sam's house--the first stop on the Underground Railroad. From there, the different people they meet along the Railroad--conductor, station master, operative--are introduced, all with their own voices, one poem per spread. Slave owners and slave catchers also have voices, demonstrating historicity with the use of derogatory phrases for the slaves--caregivers should be ready to discuss these with child readers. Day's illustrations, which have the look of ink and watercolor, are filled with details that elicit a nearly tangible sense of time and place. After many trials and travels over land and sea, the siblings make it to their destination: freedom in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Well-utilized endpapers map the siblings' escape route.
A good step-by-step portrayal of the dangers slaves were willing to risk for freedom and the complex, lifesaving organization that was the Underground Railroad. (historical notes, note from the author, references) (Picture book/poetry. 6-10)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Winters, Kay: VOICES FROM THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A512028696/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=42271372. Accessed 13 June 2025.
Busch, Miriam RAISIN, THE LITTLEST COW Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins (Children's Picture Books) $17.99 3, 28 ISBN: 978-0-06-242763-2
Raisin's tiny bovine nose is out of joint when her new baby brother arrives.Before she becomes a big sister, Raisin the calf revels in being the littlest cow in her herd. Day's illustrations incorporate environmental text as she makes lists of things she likes (movies, the color brown, and lists among them) and things she doesn't (including cauliflower, thunder, and change). The latter list is a harbinger for the plot's central conflict: when Raisin's mother has a baby, the new big sister decides he looks like a head of cauliflower, and she hates the changes his arrival creates. For one thing, no one comes to boost her up to see the movie playing at the drive-in visible across the pasture fence, as they usually do. Then a thunderstorm begins when she succeeds in giving herself a boost with the aid of a bucket as stepstool. She returns to the herd, cranky and upset, but when she sees how scared and sad the baby is, big-sisterly instincts kick in and she offers comfort--and she's even inspired to give him a name as sweet as her own: Raindrop. This is well-trod territory in terms of storytelling, but Day's multimedia art ratchets up the cuteness with little Raisin's fuzzy topknot and displays a quirky sensibility while details like the drive-in theater keep staleness at bay. One to add to the new-baby shelf. (Picture book. 3-6)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Busch, Miriam: RAISIN, THE LITTLEST COW." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A477242260/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2d3c2304. Accessed 13 June 2025.