A Pinecone!

Off-Limits

by Helen Yoon

“Fully and funnily realizing the comedic potential of a child’s single-mindedness, the work also provides a model for rolling with the p . . . inecones.” —Publishers Weekly

Daddy is a bit distracted on their autumn walk, while his curious child only has eyes for one of nature’s small wonders: a pinecone! And look, another pinecone! And another! In fact, she could gather an entire collection—an entire extended family—of pinecones if she wanted to (and she wants to!). But what then? In a story spun with visual comedy, the characters from Off-Limits return for a small adventure in outsize enthusiasm leading to a sparkly, holiday-cheer-worthy finish. Helen Yoon brings all her quirky warmth to bear on this tribute to little ones whose fixations tend to send them over the top—and the parents who lovingly help them to funnel all that passionate energy. And perhaps some of their own!

Genres: Picture Books, Nature, Humor, Childrens, Family, Storytime, Fiction

32 pages, Paperback

Expected publication October 6, 2026

About the author

Helen Yoon is a freelance illustrator and creative consultant operating in the greater Los Angeles area. Sheepish is her first picture book.

Reviews

[Jamie Johnson Leach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was too good!

[Sarah BT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh I adore Helen Yoon! Every book she writes has such charm and humor. The balance in the art of the excited child and the exasperated parent add a fun layer for the adults reading this one over and over with kiddos. A great wintery read full of laughs-and a craft idea after!

[Melanie Hetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young girl gathers and names numerous pinecones while out on a walk with her dad. While Dad is distracted with the dog, she brings all her pinecones in the house, cleans them and then has an imaginary family reunion of all the pinecones. When Dad finally notices all of her pinecones he decides to help her make use of them by making holiday decoration.

Instructions on how to collect and preserve pincecones include.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lap book

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Preschool

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. I also love pinecones and drive my family nuts with them in the house, although maybe not to this extreme. The dad and the dog made me laugh..felt that also.

[Pam Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dare you not to giggle, or at least have a smile on your face, while you read this adorable book. PERFECT to read at storytime, with a classroom of children, or with your own family.

[sweet orange books · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the perfect book to show good parenting skills!

One morning, while her dad walks the family dog, the little girl discovers pinecones. And when I say discovers, I should say "loves at first sight" and "gets immediately obsessed with" pinecones. While the dog drags papa up and down the path, ending in a magnificent fall in the mud, this little girl collects all the pinecones she can get her hands on, giving them family names one by one.

Cutting to later in the story, what does the dad do when he discovers the mountain of pinecones collected and accumulated in her room and across the house? React like a good dad! No scolding, no disapproval, but instead he decides to decorate the full house with pinecones, celebrating his daughter's new hobby and fascination. This was utterly charming and made me feel all warm in my heart.

And about papa and the dog falling in the mud? Parenting at its best once again: letting the dog play in the mud, then carrying it back in his arms, before drying it and cleaning it with a fluffy towel, starting a laundry, and getting a nice cup of tea. Just patience, love, and letting his kids be kids. Just perfect.

And did I mention how charming the illustrations are? The facial expressions and overall body language are so on point! And I love the pattern effects! Just great, great, great! Extra point: bi-racial family and possibly single dad!

Highly, highly recommend this book, go get it for your kids, schools, and libraries once it is out on 9/10/2024!

*I received an advance review copy for free from Edelweiss and the publisher Candlewick, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.*

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

PLEASE READ THIS ON MY BLOG: https://bookreadingtic.com/2024/11/22... AND THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING ME

There’s Another One and Another One and …..

While out for a walk with her dad, a little girl discovers pinecones. She is fascinated with them. As she gathers lots and lots of them to take home, her dad is distracted by all the antics his dog does.

With dad occupied, the little girl does not have much supervision, so she brings home an enormous amount.

As creepy crawlies from the pinecones start appearing, the dad suddenly notices all the pinecones his little girl has brought inside their house. The dad then does a very creative thing with all the pinecones that charms both his little girl, and the readers, alike.

The is a sweet tale combined with a very funny one. Youngsters aged two to seven-years-old, will be enchanted and full of giggles, by this five-star, over-sized, picture book. Prepare for warm fuzzies filled with laughter when reading this story!

If you want to bring some pinecones home, the back flap includes instructions to take care of pinecones, and eliminate any stowaways.

Thank you, Candlewick Books, for providing Tickmenot with a book to review. Opinions are my own.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Movement-filled mixed media artwork with expressive faces set against plentiful white space adds so much to this already-enjoyable picture book [3.5 for me!]. The plot is simple enough; a girl and her father take the family dog for a walk in the woods. As the father chases the very rambunctious dog, the child is attracted to the pinecones, picking up and admiring first one, then another, and another, each time naming them. She brings her haul inside, where they quickly take over the house. Oh, and those pinecones contain various bugs who gradually make their presence known in the warmth of their new home. The child's enthusiasm is evident in every page, and her patient father doesn't toss the pinecones outside. No, instead, he makes them into ornaments and decorates the house with her new friends, a great example of following his daughter's lead and honoring her newfound passion. The inside of the book jacket offers tips to preparing pinecones BEFORE bringing them into the house. Having gathered more than my share of pinecones for school projects and never having followed these suggestions, I guess I can count myself lucky that I never inadvertently brought any insects inside. This one was a delight from start to finish.

[YSBR · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short and silly story of a child gathering pinecones until they fill the whole house. This layered picture book shows the young girl collecting pinecones in the foreground, while in the background Dad is pulled into a mud puddle by the dog, cleans up, and does laundry. The dad and dog discover something is amiss when they find creepy crawlies in the house. They follow the bug trail and find the daughter’s mountain of pinecones. The book concludes with the family making many garlands and even a Christmas tree out of pinecones.

Yoon’s illustrations were done in mixed media. The background scenes have a soft, faded quality to them, while the richer illustrations of the girl and pinecones pop in the foreground. The animated facial expressions of the characters hilariously convey the girl’s joy, the dad’s frustration, and the dog’s confusion. The text voices the child’s excitement at finding and naming a massive family of pinecones, while the pictures show the dad completing mundane chores. A funny book about children finding wonder in surprising places. Link to complete review: https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/2...

[MOSS Kids Book Project · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely adore this story! So relatable as we also have little collectors of things that find their way into our home. A child heads out for a nature walk with her dad & her dog. She notices a pinecone & her attention is now only on the pinecones. Meanwhile dad & dog get into a mud puddle & need to head inside to clean up. The child at this point has collected lots and lots and lots of pinecones. Dad finally realizes something is up when he notices the friendly creatures brought in with the pinecones making their way from out of our little nature enthusiast's bedroom. And rather than scold her, make her remove them, belittle her love of pinecones - he begins to decorate with her & enjoy her collection together.

With sparse text & brilliant illustrations, this is the *perfect* book for all bookshelves. We will add this one to our personal shelves & our nonprofit libraries. This story would be great around Fall with pinecone crafts!

Thank you to Edelweiss & Candlewick Press for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Vera Godley · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this picture book, the delights of collecting one of nature's beauties - a pinecone - is enthusiastically examined by a precocious little girl who just can't seem to get enough pinecones.

Whilst out with papa walking the dog, who has a mind of his own, she snatches and tucks away in every pocket, fold, and spot numerous pinecones. Such delight!

She collects so many they take over the house. Poor papa and the dog - living their papa and doggie lives in the background on these pages of delight - endure the invasion of the pinecones.

But there is more..... there is a vast assortment of teeny, tiny critters whose home is the pinecone and they come, too!

An absolutely adorable story of fascination, family living, family tolerance, and cause and effect. Plus a heaping of charm.

I received a complimentary copy to facilitate a review. Opinions are mine, alone and are freely given.

[Becky B · Rating 5 out of 5]

While Daddy is distracted with rectifying the muddy situation of the family dog, the little girl is becoming enamored with the abundance of pinecones outside and decides to relocate a whole pinecone family inside.

This father and daughter should rent themselves out for event decoration! They are super industrious and very creative. I love how absolutely believable the situation is from the distraction of the dad so he misses the majority of the pinecone relocation happening and the imagination of the little girl sweeping her away. The unexpected last page spread and the way it shows that dad must have rolled with the situation makes the book end on a happy note. From the moment the dog starts dragging dad around the humor just continues, and the way Yoon conveys that almost entirely through the artwork is a stroke of genius. So much fun! I also love how the book highlights a child using imagination and natural materials to entertain herself for hours.

[Jared White · Rating 4 out of 5]

As one of my co-workers summarized this book, "Chaos."

Little nature collectors (and their parents) will definitely connect to this small collector's enthusiasm. The fairly simple, but cute illustrations convey this enthusiasm (and chaos) quite well and the text captures it too. I love that the child greets and names the pinecones as they go, "Hello Uncle Pinecone! Greetings Great-Aunt Pinecone! Welcome Princess Pattycake Petunia Pinecone!" I also really like that the caregiver just kind of embraces it (once they finally notice) and then figures out ways to still have a lot of pinecones while limiting the chaos. A nice added touch is that the author gives info at the back on "How to prepare pinecones for in-home use."

This could be a great book for a preschool or lower elementary storytime to pair with a pinecone craft.

[Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a family walk, a young girl fills the house with pinecones from a nearby tree while her father is distracted by their mud-covered dog.

The illustrations were done in "mixed media."

This story shows a child's complete joy over a simple thing -- in this case collecting pinecones.

It portrays a positive father-daughter relationship.

It also demonstrates the concept of generalization. Generalization is the psychological process in which a person applies a learned concept to different but similar objects, situations, patterns, behaviors, and responses. Here the little girl is pretending that her pinecones are people in family units with the smaller pinecones being children and larger pinecones being adults.

[Erin Buhr]

A PINECONE! is the absolutely adorable sequel to OFF-LIMITS. This time Daddy and his curious daughter take the dog for a walk and while the Dad is hilariously distracted by the dog, the daughter starts a pinecone collection that gets a little out of control. Helen Yoon does a great job of capturing childlike wonder and the parenting experience. She skillfully pairs her simple text with illustrations that add layers of humor to the story. It is briefly related to Christmas, enough that you could add this to your Christmas pile or shelf, but also detached enough that I think you could read it all year long.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A father is walking the dog with his daughter when the dog takes off to roll in the mud. While the father is completely distracted by the dog, his daughter becomes obsessed with the pinecones on the ground. Although the father is totally focused on the dog chaos, only the reader is observing the chaos created by the acquisition of countless pinecones. Wonderful characters -- a child with a fantastic imagination and a patient go-with-the flow dad -- and great illustrations that capture the high energy mayhem and the comforting family relationships. There's much to smile about in this amusing picture book!

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I like how this gets at a kid's natural desire to collect things, but the chaos and distracted dad, not to mention the bug infestation, put me off it. I think I'm too in favor of nature to appreciate this book. Yes, it's great the girl loves her pinecones, but if they are full of critters they should stay in nature. The instructions at the end for "preparing pinecones for in-home use" explains how to kill all the critters who live in the pinecones and are part of the ecosystem. Not sure why that needs to happen when instead the girl could return the pinecones to nature and have a special moment that way. Gosh, the more I've written in this review, the less I like this book.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dad has the dog on a leash while he and his daughter go on a walk in the fall weather. When the dog pulls dad through the mud, the little gets enamored by the abundance of fallen pinecones all around her. She sets herself to collecting them ALL, bringing them into her room to Dad's great surprise.

This little girl's awe and wonder at something as simple as a pinecone is so realistic. I loved Dad's loving and ultimately fun and creative response to a ridiculous and nonetheless humourous predicament of a mountain of pinecone's in his daughter's room. The illustrations in this book are absolutely adorable.

[Bedashruti Mitra Basu · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Dad-Daughter duo go out on an autumn walk, Dad is a bit distracted while Daughter collects loads of pinecones. She collects so many of them that she creates an extended family of pinecones complete with a pinecone family reunion! By the time Dad has time to focus on Daughter, the house is full of pinecones (and creatures that accompany them)!

With illustrations that tell the funny story aided by sparsely peppered words, “𝗔 𝗣𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗲!” is perfect for ages 2 and above. It is also a humorous ode to parental patience and childhood obsessions.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A small girl and her father take a fall walk with a dog intent on getting muddy. The child finds a pinecone and is so excited! She starts collect them and things get quickly out of hand with pinecones everywhere. He distracted dad doesn't realize the size of the collection until they get home and the apartment is overwhelmed by pinecones!

This is hilarious and an absolute delight to read and share. The ending is a sweet tribute to a great understanding father and great ingenuity.

The illustration are pure fun and giggles will abound. Perfect for a story time read aloud or a lap book.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Christmas book without Santa, gifts, or the nativity. They make a Christmas tree with the many pinecones the child collects. The featured parent in this hilarious book is the long-suffering father. ELA tie-in with reading illustrations. A story is told in the illustrations that is not even mentioned in the text.
SEL: thinking of other: The story shows that the MC is focused on her own project, unaware of the extra work her father is doing because of their rambunctious dog, and unaware of the additional problem her collection of pinecones makes.
Target audience is lower elementary grades.

[Morgan the Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a strong four. It would be a good one for a preschool storytime, but I'd probably want it for that older age bracket for sure so they'd catch some of the chaos that's going on in the background (which is sure fun!) I love the simple but eye catching style that Helen Yoon has and her humor is always spot on. It captured the somewhat aggravating charm of a child's urge to collect somewhat useless items in a precious and fun way that was really enjoyable. 10/10, but beware the fact that this might encourage other kiddos to grab every pinecone they see!

[Patricia J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non-chalant dad taking the dog for a walk...and teeny pigtails spied behind a gate. Within 2 spreads, his little girl is collecting pinecones --while the dog goes wild, dragging dad through muck. More pinecones and more craziness with dad and dog -- which the girl doesn't even notice. This is a hilarious story about a little girl's love of pinecones --she puts them everywhere! And when teeny bugs start showing up in the house, the dad discovers just how much she loves them. Laugh out loud funny and sweet ending!

[Thomas Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute, and a very cute ending. Love the dad. Love how well the artist gave expressions to the different characters.

There was a little side story at the beginning with the dog and the dad getting dirty, but the author let that kind of dissipate, kind of weakening the story. And the amount of pinecones there were at the end kind of changed the story from a cute believable one into a more childish eye-roller.

But again, what they did with the pinecones at the end made me happy.

[Christie Kaaland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun book with so many twists and turns. A girl, her dad, and the rambunctious family dog take a walk. While the dog's antics keeps father busy, the girl gathers pinecones. Lots of them. And names each of them and then even creates a pinecone family anthem. Arriving home after their walk (and after cleaning the dog), dad goes to his desk only to discover many insects, crawly things, and traces them to the girl's bedroom. No spoilers. A light fun read with lovely illustrations.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this story hilarious! The mixed media illustrations tell as much of the story as does the text.
When the father notices all kinds of creepy crawlies in the house, he follows them to his daughter's room, which is literally packed from floor to ceiling with pinecones! The illustration is hilarious. But Dad finds a good solution for all those pinecones. A wonderfully funny look at an obsessed young lady.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This dad and daughter have a loving relationship though Dad is a bit distracted when the book begins. By the time he is able to focus again, his daughter has brought a mountain of pinecones into her room. I appreciate the humor as the dad and dog follow the bug trail to figure out what is going on. Yoon is a master at showing character expressions without using a single word. Her simple to read text captures the whole story that younger readers can enjoy by reading themselves.

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny little picture book with two distinct stories taking place. The child is obsessed with collecting pinecones, while dad is wrangling the family dog. The one odd piece is the bugs that start appearing as the pinecone collection grows. It's not addressed directly in the story, so children might wonder what is happening. A note at the end provided instructions on soaking and baking pinecones for inside use. A cute, funny picture book.