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Summary
Summary
A young girl shares stories and facts about the woods near her home while catching up with her mischievous dog, Peppermint.
When her dog Peppermint wanders off, this little girl isn't too worried; they both know their way around the woods. On her way to find Peppermint, she regales us with stories and information about the area, from encounters with spiny porcupines and protective mother coyotes all the way back to the mile-thick glaciers that shaped the landscape. Parts of the story are highlighted with art-within-art glimpses of the girl's journal, where she's captured her exploits in drawings.
Author-illustrator Maxwell Eaton is back with another genre-bending picture book full of fun facts and witty asides. Detailed illustrations bring wild critters to life and keep the reader guessing what's next. Any young reader with an interest in science and the natural world will want to hike out into the forest with Peppermint and her humans.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Author Notes
Maxwell Eaton III wrote and illustrated Bear Builds a House and Bear Goes Sugaring , which received three starred reviews, as well as the The Truth About series, Seriously Funny Facts About Your Favorite Animals. This series includes The Truth About Dolphins , The Truth About Hippos , The Truth About Elephants and The Truth About Bears , which received multiple starred reviews. He lives in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State with his partner and two children.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
A child searching for a lost pup named Peppermint treats readers to an educational forest tour in Eaton's informative comic, which, per an author's note, draws inspiration from experiences in the Adirondack Mountains. Cartoon-style pen and ink, pencil, and watercolor renderings kick off the outing among white pines before moving on to encompass other woody species, as well as discussions of regional history and animals including porcupines, owls, and coyotes. Throughout, the pale-skinned narrator breaks up the hike with hand-drawn panels that recount funny family anecdotes. Meanwhile, the elusive dog pops up on each page to wryly comment on the protagonist's observations via thought bubbles. When at last the search achieves its end, there's a surprise discovery for the child, who concludes, "Well, thanks for walking with me. I always see something special when a friend comes along." Brief back matter concludes. Ages 4--8. (Feb.)
Horn Book Review
From a red cabin in a forest, the young protagonist calls for her dog. "Peppermint! Where is that pesky pup? I'm going out to look for Peppermint! You come too." In the panel-style illustrations that follow, the girl takes readers on a tour of her favorite features of the forest, while the cagey Peppermint comments from a circle inset on each spread. When there are reminiscences (about the time, for instance, when Peppermint came home with a snout full of porcupine quills), the action appears as childlike drawings in the girl's sketchbook (Peppermint: "Maybe not my finest hour"). A mix of the informative and the homey, the narration encompasses elements of history and geology (how millennia earlier, glaciers dropped erratic boulders), botany, zoology (the time a coyote chased them home and they later returned to find its den), and folk wisdom (how to make a whistle out of an acorn cupule), in a visually inviting and intellectually stimulating way. When the naughty Peppermint is at last reunited with her owner, they're rewarded with one of the girl's life-list ambitions: the sight of an elusive fisher regarding them silently from high in a tree. The back matter includes a note from the author about his home and a map showing the Adirondack Mountains, sidebars about porcupines and fishers, and a list of "a few good forest books." Anita L. BurkamJanuary/February 2024 p.110 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
While searching for a wandering pup, a capable young narrator leads a tour through the woods, regaling readers with a blend of memories, facts, and nature appreciation. Cleverly framing the story as a metafictive trek, Eaton creates a narrative as fascinating and dense as the trees in a hemlock forest. The intrepid narrator identifies realistically rendered tree and animal species and shares facts about nearby geology and geography. While the search for Peppermint feels somewhat tangential, information about cool phenomena such as glacial erratics (giant boulders!) will pique and hold kids' interest. Vivid illustrations with clean black outlines evoke the sunny vibes of a perfect day in the great outdoors, while a crayon-style art-within-art format allows the narrator to share personal stories of her family coming across a coyote protecting her pups or Mom and Dad pulling porcupine quills from Peppermint's poor nose. These tales have a raw authenticity, which is fitting given that backmatter explains that many stories are drawn from Eaton's family's experiences exploring the Adirondack Mountains, where they live. While there's much to absorb--a plethora of panels, speech bubbles, graphs, and asides from Peppermint--Eaton weaves together the threads into a seamless whole. The family is light-skinned. Ambitious and engrossing, this field guide may inspire young readers to do some wandering of their own. (Picture book. 6-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A plucky explorer seeks her pesky pup, Peppermint, who has ventured into the woods near their home, and offers readers insights and a tour of the forest as she searches. The girl isn't worried--Pep has run off before--and the pup makes quick, reassuring cameos throughout the girl's hunt for him. She knows these woods well, frequently pausing her search to discuss specific trees, mammals, and geological formations found in the area. Both characters matter-of-factly address the reader as they recount stories of previous adventures in the forest through graphic panels overlaid on vibrant full-bleed, mixed-media illustrations. In a slightly meta approach, the girl shares sketches from her own field guild to add color and context to the current adventure, subtly promoting wilderness autonomy and independent exploration in the process. For the uninitiated, Eaton (Bear Builds a House, 2022) has carved a reliably delightful niche in informational picture books and makes his Adirondack environs feel inviting and accessible. A sweet pick for blossoming naturalists.
