The three exciting stories James Otis Smith tells in Black Heroes of the Wild West — those of Mary Fields, Bass Reeves, and Bob Lemmons — represent only a small part of the variety of Black experience on the American frontier. All three people were born into slavery but used their skills to set their own paths. These tales are told to refute the popular assumption that cowboys and other Wild West denizens were white. Mary Fields was a stagecoach […]

Wildflowers, by Liniers, is the Argentine cartoonist’s third Toon book inspired by his girls, after The Big Wet Balloon and Good Night, Planet. This is the oddest of the three, but the bizarre story eventually reveals itself as a comfortable reminder of the power of imagination. Three girls, inspired by the author’s daughters, seem to be trapped on a mysterious jungle island after a plane crash. As the story continues, the reader suspects something else might be going on, since […]

Following up on A Trip to the Bottom of the World With Mouse, Frank Viva takes the chatty rodent to a different extreme area of the world in A Trip to the Top of the Volcano With Mouse. Mouse and the traveler climb a volcano in Italy, while Mouse spends most of the time asking when they can eat pizza. The landscape around the mountain contains a variety of crops, animals, and temperatures. The child-like mouse, by making lists and […]

Kevin McCloskey has a mini empire of educational comics about everyday wildlife from Toon Books called “Giggle and Learn”. They’re handsome hardcovers, aimed at grades K-1, that feature humor and gross facts. The newest, Ants Don’t Wear Pants!, joins the following: We Dig Worms! The Real Poop on Pigeons! Something’s Fishy Snails Are Just My Speed! Like the other books, this installment provides some basic facts: key bits of ant anatomy, the ant life cycle, how they communicate, some different […]

Ivan Brunetti’s Wordplay was a cute exploration of language; his followup counting book, 3×4, plays with numbers. The teacher asks the class to draw 12 things in sets, so the kids think about groups of cars, shapes, food, and other objects. It’s creative and playful, with plenty of detail to look at and count, making for fun reading and re-reading. There are so many different ways to make a dozen, and so many interests these kids have! A wonderful book […]

Snails Are Just My Speed! is the latest in Kevin McCloskey’s series of “Giggle and Learn” books, after We Dig Worms!, The Real Poop on Pigeons!, and Something’s Fishy. They feature odd animals, heavy on the kind of gross facts kids love. In other words, they’re a lot of fun. The attitude is obvious from the cover, with the title entity saying, “Now with extra mucus!” And yes, the mucus is explained in great detail inside, with its many functions […]

Good Night, Planet is a beautifully illustrated take on the classic idea of a child’s beloved stuffed animal coming alive at night. Planet appears to be a bedraggled rabbit (or maybe a dog?), and after a day jumping in the autumn leaves, while the little girl sleeps, Planet plays with the family dog and gets snacks. The linework by Liniers is detailed, especially around the edges, whether stacking up shadows in the corner of the room or delineating the night […]

Ivan Brunetti, a cartoonist whose early works’ titles included Misery Loves Comedy and Schizo, is now reaching a new audience. (It’s not his first redirection: he’s also done covers for The New Yorker.) Wordplay is a hardcover comic for grades K-1 guaranteed to show how fun playing with language can be. In its 30 pages, children (with perfectly round heads, a quirk of Brunetti’s style) learn from their teacher and parents about compound words. The grammar lesson takes full advantage […]