What Coco Can Do and The Stolen Songbird

Boelts, Maribetn and Laberis, Stephanie (illus.) What Coco Can Do
April 1, 2025 by Candlewick Press
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

Coco is a goofy, happy dog who can cuddle. There are other dogs who have different jobs, befriending zoo animals, herding, sniffing out endangered animals, competing in agility tests, rescuing people, or chasing animals off airplane runways, but Coco's ability to cuddle is also important. Not only does Coco cuddle with his family, which consists of parents, a grandfather, and two children, but he also is a service dog who goes to nursing homes, hospitals, and scenes of crises to comfort people when they need support and encouragement. Even though it might not seem as glamorous as being a television personality or as important as moving cattle, Coco's job is an important one, which he does with his whole heart.

I liked that the illustrations were a mix of detailed backgrounds, like Lucky finding small endangered rodents in a forest, and portraits surrounded by a lot of white space. This highlights individual dogs while also giving a good look at the situations in which they find themselves. The white space makes it easier to see the text; on some of the detailed back drops, the words are in almost the same color as the dirt or grass, which makes them hard to see. I wish the print had been in white; just make sure you don't miss those bits of the story!

Coco has such a friendly face, and takes such joy in cuddling, that it's hard to find any fault with his "limited" abilities. Also, everyone knows that Coco isn't just cuddling; he's clearly protecting humans from the grave danger imposed by squirrels, mailmen, and the wind!

It's good for young readers to understand that there are pets, and there are service dogs, and sometimes the two are one and the save. Add What Coco Can Do to the growing number of picture books that celebrate the different careers of our canine friends like Papp's Madeline Finn and the Library Dog, Gianferrari and Lobo's To Dogs, With Love, Ashman and Judd's Wonder Dogs, and Frey and Nacua's Alice Eloise's Silver Linings: The Story of a Silly Service Dog.

Eagle, Judith. The Stolen Songbird. 

December 2, 2025 by Walker Books US

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

In 1959, Caro Monday is living over a pub near Waterloo Station in London run by one of her mothers, Ronnie Rudd, while her other mother, Jacinta Monday, is touring the world as an entertainer. She is training to be an acrobat, and is waiting for her mother to return home to help her build a gym. When she doesn't return, and Ronnie has to go to help out an ailing relative, Caro is sent to stay with her Great Aunt Mary, known as Gam, who had raised Jacinta. Caro would rather stay behind with her friend Horace, and doesn't want to leave her rabbit, His Nibs. She manages to get the bunny out to Hampstead Heath using an old baby buggy, and hides him outside. Gam  has a maid, Marks, as well as another ward, Albert, and engages a tutor, Tom, to take care of the two children. The Snake gang are carrying out burglaries around town, so when Caro finds a small painting wrapped up in her suitcase, she is worried that it was stolen and somehow ended up in her possession. Everyone, especially Tom, comes under suspicion. When Caro, Horace, and Albie hear about a series of bird paintings that were stolen, they try to sneak into the home of Lord and Lady Dockitt to return the painting... but get caught, and find that their painting did not belong to the Dockitt's. Caro tries to return to the pub, which is under the care of her friend Toby's mother, Emerald, but finds herself thrown deep into the antics of the Snake Gang. Secrets about Gam and her family are revealed, and Caro's mother is finally located, having gotten caught up in a Panamanian coup along with ballerina Margot Fonteyn. 

Eagle's works like The Accidental Stowaway, The Secret Starling, and The Pear Affair are extremely British, and set in interesting time periods. The late 1950s in London would have been quite something, and there is some back history with Caro's mother that takes place in 1940. This felt a bit like Noel Streatfield's work. If Robin Steven's Murder is Bad Manners circulates well in your library, you will want to take a look at this. 

Some 8th grade classes had a two month book assignment, and when the teacher shared the rubric with me, this was the only book I had on my TBR that was long enough (320 pages). I did the scavenger hunt and created the slide presentation. All together, it took me about three hours to read the book and do the work. It really wasn't that hard, and having a Canva educational account made the slides so much fun to do! 

https://www.canva.com/design/DAGxHYZmb7w/z5ran2R6lC6T84k4lCm8dQ/edit?utm_content=DAGxHYZmb7w&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

The Crayon Stub and Please Look After This Cat

Cutler, Marcus. The Crayon Stub

May 6, 2025 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
 

Big Cat is inspired to create a fantastic work of art, especially since he has a brand new box of crayons, but when he goes to draw, all that is left is the stub of a red crayon. This is a tragedy! How will he ever achieve greatness? Trailed by by Little Cat (who doesn't speak), he has idea after idea, but nothing will work for his grand project. Just when he has some inspirtion, Little Cat runs off with the crayon. Not only that, but he eats it! Ingesting it is not a great idea, and before long, Little Cat has a "technicolor yawn" all over a piece of paper. Now Big Cat has no chances to be creative... or does he. Using the paper, he creates a self portrait of the two, complete with hearts.

Oh, the thrill of a new box of crayons, and the disappointment when they are damaged! Young readers will empathize with Big Cat's desire to do something fantastic, and his annoyance at Little Cat getting in his way. While I can just envision the parents' reaction to being presented with a cat yak magnum opus ("You want me to hang this... on the refrigerator? Near FOOD?"), this is a giggle worthy inclusion, and much more interesting that the drawings of dinosaurs and volcanos.

The digitally created drawings are reminiscent of Carle's tissue paper collage style, but there are some crayoned creations as well. The shapes are bold and simple, and the expressions on the cats' faces are amusing. The hand lettered style font is clear and crisp, and there's just enough text on each page to make this a quick read aloud.

This would make a great gift for an older sibling along with books about drawing and the creative process like Art’s Supplies by Tougas or I Am An Artist by Altés. Of course, a fresh new box of crayons never hurts, or an activity like Smit's The Kids' Book of Craft Love, which is meant to be cut up. That would be a book that Big Cat would definitely want to keep away from Little Cat!

Antczak, Kasia and Fryza, Kasia (illustrator)

Please Look After This Cat: A Guide to Taking Care of Me

October 7, 2025 by Post Wave

Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

Dot the cat wants readers to know all about taking care of their feline friends, and guides readers through what cats' needs are. Starting with an introduction about how the book is set up, Dot proceeds to offer a page from the cat's perspective, with information for humans on the facing page. Topics include not only what to feed cats, but how to present the food, as well as the importance of running water. I didn't know that cats preferred water this way, since their ancestors knew that still water could have germs! Cats also need fresh air, litter boxes, and in some instances, walks, and there are great details about how to best handle all of these situations. Pages also include information about grooming cats, what to do if one isn't feeling well, how to handle more than one cat, and how to provide high perches for cats to use. The last set of pages addresses the needs of older cats, which includes more frequent visits to the vet, more rest, and of course, more quality time with their humans!

Starting with bright end papers illustrated by four-year-old Wiki, the pictures are informative and amusing. There are interesting color combinations, like yellow, green, and purple, and the small insets under "How You Can Help" offer a lot of detail. The use of shapes to highlight information is helpful, and the black lines make things nice and clear. The main text is large enough and short enough for reading aloud, and more detailed information is set in a smaller font. 

Being able to look after a pet independently is often an expectation parents want met before a pet is adopted, but there are few picture books that delineate exactly what needs to be done. As a dog person, I certainly learned a lot about the different needs that cats have, and gained some insight into their personalities as well. Pair this with Sekaninova and Wolf's Cats Are Great BUT (It's Great to Have a Pet) for all the details about how to welcome a cat to your household. 

Cousins

Lavoie, Laura and Leal, Luisa (illus.) Cousins

May 27, 2025 by Roaring Brook Press

Copy provided by the publisher

Ella is very excited to go to her Grandma June's house so that she can see her family, including her six cousins, who range in age from a toddler to a preteens. The children play dress, have a baseball game, get caught in the rain and dry off for dinner, and make a plea to their grandmother to have a cousins' sleepover. Grandma June gives in, of course, and the parents help the children settle into sleeping bags on the living room floor for the night. There are spooky stories and late night snacks before the cousins finally fall asleep after their day of togetherness. 

As someone who has 38 cousins but never had a sleepover with them, this was great fun to read. Ella is lucky that her cousins are all about her age, and that Grandma June is young enough to take care of all of them! The families are depicted as somewhat diverse; some members have slightly darker skin, although there is no cultural identification. It's good to see that the family members are all close, and also to see that the children make an effort to be "extra good" so that they will be allowed to have a sleepover, although it is implied that this was the plan all along. 

I loved that the children were all close in age and were amenable to playing the same imaginative games, even including the littlest cousins. They also help out with clean up and get along well, although there is a little tiff about the best kind of pie. (According to my Uncle Chuck, this was cherry, but I maintained my allegiance to apple!) I loved that Ella cleaned up the mess her cousins made with the Mississippi mud pie, and that the two ended up sharing. 

Whether you come from a large brood or just wish that you were part of one, it's fun to read about the antics of family get togethers. This title is closely related to Madhani's Eli and the Uncles, del Mazo and Alvarez's Cousins, LaRocca's Mauntie and Me or Summer is for Cousins, or the extended family portrayed in Lucido and Demirag's Pasta Pasta Lotsa Pasta. 
 

MMGM- Picture Book December!

It's

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
 at 

Always in the Middle 

and #IMWAYR day 

at

Unleashing Readers

For reasons I don't understand, very few middle grade books are published in December, which leaves me scrambling to keep up my one-book-every-day streak that I started in January of 2012. I've been reviewing more picture books for Young Adult Books Central, in order to build a library for my grandson, but don't post them here. I'll post middle grade books if there are any published, but it's May 5 now, and few are out there. Take a look at these titles that would make great gifts for young readers! 

Willan, Alex. Piece Out
May 20, 2025 by Astra Young Readers
Copy provided by the publisher

When the red piece from the Kaflooble game gets knocked off the table on family game night, he waits for someone to pick him up. Instead, he finds himself fleeing from a loud and hungry robot, and ends up under the sofa with other missing toys. They offer him refuge, but he is determined to make his way back to his best friend, Yellow. Slowly making his way across obstacles on the ground, he encounters Lady Flufferton, a poodle, and decides it would be safer to travel the higher ground. After a perilous trip through the fish tank, he arrives at the bottom of the game shelf and sees his box, only to be whisked away and thrown in the junk drawer. Still determined, he organizes supplies and makes his way back, where he tells his friends about his adventures. When Yellow goes missing, Red is prepared to go and save his friend. 

The digitally rendered illustrations are clear and bright, and show ordinary household objects from the view point of Red, which is charming and had a similar vibe to Mary Norton's classic The Borrowers, especially with the paperclip mountain climbing equipment. I also enjoyed the map at the front of the book that labeled things like "cascading cliffs" (stairs) and "swishy washers" (washer and dryer). 

This also had a good message about perseverance, even if I found it a little hard to believe that someone would have found a game piece right in front of the boxes and not returned it. The junk drawer was a fun place to visit, though, and the one depicted looked pretty much like mine! 

I like the idea of an adventure starring toys, but the books I'm familiar with usually involved stuffed animals, which makes sense. Red's journey will be a great read for imaginative children who wonder about the sentient quality of their toys and who enjoyed Deacon's While You are Sleeping or Jenkins' and Zelinsky's Toys Go Out.

Greenwald, Tommy, Greenwald, Charlie, and Pate, Shihoh.
Three Wishes (The Rescues #3)
September 9, 2025 by Red Comet Press
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

After their adventures in Finding Home and Best Day Ever, Moose and Bear, two rescue dogs, and their cat friend Tiger, return for three more stories for emergent readers. In the first, they invite their friend Wolf for a play date. The dogs very much enjoy a game called Jumping on Top of Each Other, but since Tiger isn't as strong as the dogs, he doesn't enjoy it quite as much. When a favorite toy is in danger, however, Tiger proves that you don't necessarily have to be strong in order to make a difference. In the next story, Mailman Joe is replaced by Mailman Jack. Bear is devastated, since Joe is a favorite who always stops to give Bear treats and attention. Eventually, Bear brings Jack a bone to try to win his friendship. Bear is relieved when Jack lets him keep the bone but does share some treats. In the final adventure, the rescues' owner, Cathy, is having a quiet morning of resting. The trio want to play, and Moose manages to crash the cat tower by jumping on it. He wishes he were smaller, but Bear and Tiger manage to convince him that he is perfect just the way he is. In the end, all three pets are happy with themselves, and are glad to be together with Cathy. 

While these books are a little larger than classic I Can Read books, they have a very similar feeling. For some reason, Pate's illustrations remind me especially of Crosby Bonsall's titles like Who's a Pest? Using animals to show young readers how to be happy with the way they are is a good ploy, especially when the animals are as cute as Tiger, Moose, and Bear! 

Having adopted several rescue dogs, I'm a big fan on shining a positive light on this practice. Each of the  animals has some challenges, as many rescues do, but are so happy to be with their loving owner. They are living their best lives as they play in the yard, have friends over, and spend time inside in their cozy house. The colors in this are very happy, and it was also a good idea to have each of the pets be a different hue, so that they are easy to tell apart when they are all in a cuddle puddle! 

Series are always a comforting way to practice reading skills, and The Rescues will be hugely popular with fans of Rylant's Ready To Read Henry and Mudge books, Butler's Kayla and King mysteries, and Dotich and Alley's Peanut and Pearl adventures.