June 10, 2025 by Viking Books for Young Readers
Copy provided by Edelweiss Plus
George, Kallie and Holzewarth, Devon. Sand Cakes
Kit is going to camp, and her pets are not happy. Her bird Derrick, cat Dora, dog Bob, and guinea pig Maud are all concerned for her safety, and worried that she will feel lonely. The trip also puts a crimp in their rugged schedule of judo, naps, and practicing of "signature moves". When Kit is packing for her journey, Maud looks at the lists and realizes there isn't anything that says "no Mauds", so she hops in Kit's back pack! Arriving at camp, she hopes out and is amazed at how different the park is from home. There's grass, sky, and a very talkative hedgehog named Harvey. There's even a hawk that whisks Maud away, but she's able to rescue herself by performing her "signature move"! Harvey and Maud have a great time hanging out while Kit is frolicking with other students. While it was fun to get away from the routine of home, Maud is ready to go back home when camp is over. There, she and Kit recreate the fun of camp for their friends, complete with a tent and popcorn!
Maud's perspective on being out "in the wild" is a good one, she she really hasn't left the house! This means that everything, even the dirt beneath her paws and the open sky, is new to her. It was fun to see that she didn't spend her time trailing after Kit, but instead made a friend and was able to have a parallel experience to her owner's. I was expecting that she would stay close to her human, so this was a nice surprise.
Fox's illustrations do a good job of contrasting Kit and Maud's time, and cleverly show Maud and Harvey doing their activities at the bottom of the page while Kit and her friends are going about their business on the top. There are lots of good details in the pictures. While we don't spend much time with Derrrick, Dora, or Bob, we see enough of their personalities that it would be easy to see more books of Kit's adventures that include them.
Reading books about new experiences is a good way to introduce young children to them so that they are prepared for things that might otherwise surprise them. Keep In the Wild on hand to pop into a back pack for a camping adventure along with Weston and Warner's Good Job, Bear, Mann's The Camping Trip, Tariq and Lewis' Fatima's Great Outdoors, or Braddock's On the Trail.
April 22, 2025 by Tundra Books
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central
A little girl is enjoying her day at the beach, playing in the sand and running an exquisite sand bakery. She makes rock sprinkled cakes, seaweed pies, sand tarts with shells, and buns covered with sea glass. She offers these delicacies to passersby, who all wrinkle their noses and turn her down! Even the crabs turn her down. This makes her angry, but doesn't stop her from continuing to line up treat after treat on the beach. Eventually, she gets a surprise customer... the tide comes in and the ocean gobbles up all of her sand confections, making the girl very happy.
Told in exuberant, rhyming verse, this tale begs to be read aloud, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear a little one chanting lines from this while making similar sand treats in a backyard pile! It's too bad that the people to whom the girl offers the treats decline them; don't they know that the proper response to to take the treat, put it to their face while saying "om nom nom", and crumpling it down their front?
The illustrations have lots of details, and the bakery items are quite pretty. The endpapers are also beautifully drawn, and the front and back pages are even different.
Tuck this title safely in a waterproof tote to read at the beach along with Jonker's Just One Wave, Ree's Sora's Seashells, Schertle and Lavallee's All You Need for the Beach, and Soman and Davis' Ladybug Girl at the Beach.
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