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BABY UNPLUGGED

When a baby is born, the child and family exist in the moment together. No cellphones ring and no pictures are taken—the family is fully unplugged and present with each other. As friends gather, they spend time together unplugged as well. The narrative continues, observing that unplugged babies learn words they hear around them and have adventures by interacting with the physical world. Bedtime is unplugged for better dreams: “Unplugged moon and stars above. / Unplugged time with you is love.” Hutton’s repetition of unplugged emphasizes the digital-free environment, especially for the young lap learners who will hear it over and over in rereads. The rhythms scan well throughout, with stanzas that limit the vocabulary used to keep the text and rhymes concise. Brown’s gentle digital illustrations have a watercolor feel and use red or blue outlines rather than black to give the shapes soft edges. Several babies are introduced throughout, giving a sense of universality across diverse families. Brown also cleverly acknowledges that technology is present—just not in the child’s life. On the front and back cover, as the central families take the subway, cellphone users are around them; when friends visit, one parent keeps a phone face-down on her knee. The device is there, not centered but ignored.

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BABY UNPLUGGED

John Hutton

illustrated by

Christina Brown

‧
RELEASE DATE: today

The appeal of babies and happy families will encourage readers to embrace the screen-free message.

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In Hutton’s picture book, a baby experiences the world unplugged from devices.

When a baby is born, the child and family exist in the moment together. No cellphones ring and no pictures are taken—the family is fully unplugged and present with each other. As friends gather, they spend time together unplugged as well. The narrative continues, observing that unplugged babies learn words they hear around them and have adventures by interacting with the physical world. Bedtime is unplugged for better dreams: “Unplugged moon and stars above. / Unplugged time with you is love.” Hutton’s repetition of unplugged emphasizes the digital-free environment, especially for the young lap learners who will hear it over and over in rereads. The rhythms scan well throughout, with stanzas that limit the vocabulary used to keep the text and rhymes concise. Brown’s gentle digital illustrations have a watercolor feel and use red or blue outlines rather than black to give the shapes soft edges. Several babies are introduced throughout, giving a sense of universality across diverse families. Brown also cleverly acknowledges that technology is present—just not in the child’s life. On the front and back cover, as the central families take the subway, cellphone users are around them; when friends visit, one parent keeps a phone face-down on her knee. The device is there, not centered but ignored.

The appeal of babies and happy families will encourage readers to embrace the screen-free message.

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Pub Date: today

ISBN: 9798992514025

Page Count: 14

Publisher: blue manatee press

Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026

Review Program:
Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING |

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY |

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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New York Times Bestseller

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THE HUMBLE PIE

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From the Food Group series

Jory John

illustrated by

Pete Oswald

‧
RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 2025

A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.

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New York Times Bestseller

In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.

Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.

A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.

(Picture book. 4-8)

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Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025

ISBN: 9780063469730

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES |

CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING

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THE HALLOWEEN TREE

Susan McElroy Montanari

illustrated by

Teresa Martínez

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RELEASE DATE: Aug. 6, 2019

Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard.

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A grouchy sapling on a Christmas tree farm finds that there are better things than lights and decorations for its branches.

A Grinch among the other trees on the farm is determined never to become a sappy Christmas tree—and never to leave its spot. Its determination makes it so: It grows gnarled and twisted and needle-less. As time passes, the farm is swallowed by the suburbs. The neighborhood kids dare one another to climb the scary, grumpy-looking tree, and soon, they are using its branches for their imaginative play, the tree serving as a pirate ship, a fort, a spaceship, and a dragon. But in winter, the tree stands alone and feels bereft and lonely for the first time ever, and it can’t look away from the decorated tree inside the house next to its lot. When some parents threaten to cut the “horrible” tree down, the tree thinks, “Not now that my limbs are full of happy children,” showing how far it has come. Happily for the tree, the children won’t give up so easily, and though the tree never wished to become a Christmas tree, it’s perfectly content being a “trick or tree.” Martinez’s digital illustrations play up the humorous dichotomy between the happy, aspiring Christmas trees (and their shoppers) and the grumpy tree, and the diverse humans are satisfyingly expressive.

Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard.

(Picture book. 4-8)

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Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4926-7335-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES |

CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS |

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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