Adventures of Charlotte & Henry Just Got a Kirkus Review. Here's What They Said.

May 27

I woke up at 3pm on a Tuesday.

That's not a complaint, that's just what happens when you work night shifts in an ICU. You sleep when the rest of the world is moving, and you wake up when it's starting to wind down. I'd been up all night, slept through the morning, and by mid-afternoon I was doing the thing I always do first: checking my phone.

There was an email.

“Kirkus Reviews has published a review of Adventures of Charlotte & Henry: The Mariana Trench.”

I read it once.

Then I read it again.

Then I sat there for a minute and read it a third time, because I was still mostly asleep and I wanted to make sure I wasn't misreading it.

I wasn't.

What Kirkus Is (In Case You Don't Know — I Didn't, Until Recently)

Kirkus Reviews has been evaluating books since 1933. That's not a typo. Since before your parents were born, possibly before your grandparents were born, Kirkus has been the outlet that librarians, booksellers, publishers, and educators use to decide which books belong on shelves and in classrooms.

When a book gets a Kirkus review, it means a professional reader who evaluates hundreds of books a year read it, assessed it against real standards, and wrote a formal verdict. When that verdict is "GET IT" — that means they recommend it.

For a self-published first-time author who has spent the last five months learning what a Lexile score is, building a website, printing books, and driving to elementary schools to read to second graders — this is a big deal.

I'm not going to pretend otherwise.

What They Said

The Kirkus verdict: GET IT.

The pull quote:

"Simple but effective storytelling to spark children's curiosity and appreciation for the wider natural world."

I read that sentence standing in my kitchen in my pajamas at 3pm, still half asleep. I read it more times than I'm going to tell you.

"Spark children's curiosity and appreciation for the wider natural world." That is exactly what I was trying to do. Not because I identified it as a market angle or ran it through any kind of strategy. It's what I was trying to do because I've been underwater with whale sharks, and dived in the Socorro Islands with things far larger than myself, and crossed ladders over crevasses in the Himalayas at altitude, and I know from personal experience that when the world gets very big and very honest all at once, something shifts in you. I wanted that shift for the kids reading this book.

That Kirkus saw it — that's the part I'm still sitting with.

A Little Context, Since We're Here

I'm an ICU nurse. I wrote this book for my niece Charlotte. Her dog Henry is also real — a good dog in the particular way that matters, loyal without condition, funny and goofy, but always protective.

Charlotte was three months old when I started writing for her. I didn't want to give her something she'd outgrow or put in a box. I wanted to give her something she could grow into, something that would stay with her, that she could reach for when she was seven and when she was twelve and when she was thirty. A gift that would last.

Not a book at first, just words that read like poetry. The poetry turned into verses and the verses into chapters. It turned into a story about a girl who finds a glowing book that takes her seven miles underwater, to the deepest place on Earth. She meets Jacques Cousteau and Sylvia Earle. She rescues a sea turtle. She descends into total darkness in a submersible.

I wasn't writing for a market. I was writing for her.

But here's something I've learned in the five months since: what's true for one child tends to be true for many. The book I wrote for Charlotte landed squarely in a category called bridge books, books for kids ages 6–9, between picture books and chapter books, at the exact moment when the wrong book kills reading confidence and the right one builds it. Twelve short chapters. Real science. Real history. A win on every page.

I didn't plan that. I just wrote something true.

Kirkus apparently agrees it worked.

What This Means If You're a Parent or a Teacher

You can read the full Kirkus review here → kirkusreviews.com

What I'd add is this: a Kirkus recommendation isn't a marketing metric. It's a professional reader — someone who reads a lot of children's books — saying that this one does what a good children's book should do. It earns the reading. It doesn't require convincing.

If you've got a kid ages 6–9 who needs a book that holds their attention, moves fast, and leaves them knowing something real about the world — that's what this is.

Find Adventures of Charlotte & Henry on Amazon →

One More Thing

My niece Charlotte is still very small. She won't be able to read this book for a while yet.

When she can, I'm going to show her the review.

I'll probably make a slightly bigger deal of it than is strictly necessary.

That part I'm not going to apologize for.

Explore the Charlotte & Henry series: braveheartspublishing.com/books

Free 20 min Mariana Trench Reading Guide: Get it here →

For teachers: Free Teacher's Guide →

Andrew Signore is the author of the Adventures of Charlotte & Henry series and the founder of Brave Hearts Publishing. He's also an ICU nurse, a former camp counselor, and the uncle of a little girl named Charlotte.

Find Adventures of Charlotte & Henry: The Mariana Trench on Amazon →

Find Adventures of Charlotte & Henry: Mount Everest on Amazon →

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