Cool Buds: Treasure Map! [I Can Read! Comics]
by Barbara Lehman; illus. by the author
Primary    Clarion/HarperCollins    32 pp.
1/26    9780063389090    $18.99
Paper ed.  9780063389083    $5.99

In the second installment of this comics series for new readers (Cool Buds: To the Rescue!), the Cool Buds—an Arctic fox, Atlantic puffin, Arctic hare, and harbor seal—find a treasure map in a bottle on the beach. After the fox prepares snacks, the quartet sets off on a quest. Thick borders on clearly delineated panels work with the movement of the characters to guide readers through the story. Clean compositions in blues and greens with pops of yellow and orange focus on action and details important to the plot, allowing novice readers to concentrate on decoding words that may be less familiar (rubies, delicious, quest). The friends follow the map to Dog Rock and find another map that leads them to Big Stump. They find a third map, they picnic, nap, and then follow the trail to Square Rock. While the characters don’t have much individuality, their amiable collective personality, occasional species-specific dialogue (the puffin’s “feathers crossed,” the seal’s “flipping out”), and the undeniable fun of following a treasure map give the book enough emotional energy to work. After visions of diamonds, pearls, and goblets (not goblins, the seal clarifies), our heroes find a box with a ping-pong set, which turns out to be all they needed to cap off the “best treasure hunt ever,” in an offering whose sunny spirit warms its snowy Arctic setting.

From the January/February 2026 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.