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With that in mind, my review acceptance window for 2026 is now closed.
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Happy Reading!
Dee Book Zone Reviews
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Uncle Unk Becomes an Uncle! by Tristan Miranda Illustrator: Seth Thompson Series: Uncle Unk #1 on March 30, 2026 Genres: Children's Picture Book Pages: 28 Format: eBook Buy on Amazon Add to Goodreads
Rating: 4.5 stars
Unk is sleeping in his bed one night when he gets a call from his brother, Jak, and learns that he’s going to be an uncle! So Unk races down to the hospital to meet with Jak, and while he’s waiting, Unk becomes worried about the responsibility of being an uncle and imagines his new duties--until he realizes that his only responsibility is to have fun and be a (mostly) good influence on his niece. So Unk imagines the various ways he can help care for his niece before meeting her for the first time…
MY THOUGHTS
Picture it: me, an actual grown woman, a mother and a grandmother, sitting down with a picture book about a man panicking over a newborn and getting a full-blown flashback to 3 a.m. feedings. That’s the power of Uncle Unk Becomes an Uncle! That cover grabbed me before I even opened the book: the burning apartment, the “HELP ME” sign, and the pizza on fire as though his whole bachelor life is going up in flames right along with it. Baby hasn’t even been born yet, and this man’s home is already a crime scene. I was in.
Unk is living his best carefree, single-guy life, takeout, football, zero responsibilities, when a 2 a.m. phone call flips his world upside down. His brother Jak is about to be a dad, which means Unk is about to be an uncle, and homeboy spirals. Hard. We’re talking serious fear, and it escalates in the most delightfully dramatic, over-the-top way that only a children’s book can get away with.
And listen, I felt that. Not because I don’t know babies. Because I do. There is something about a brand-new, floppy-necked newborn screaming for no apparent reason that can still make a seasoned grandmother’s stomach drop a little. Unk’s terror isn’t silly to me. It’s honest.
What I Liked
The rhyme scheme moves, it’s got that read-aloud bounce that keeps little ones locked in, and the pacing of Unk’s spiral, big fear, bigger fear, BIGGER fear, is a great built-in lesson for kids on how anxious thoughts snowball if you let them run wild.
At some point, the story shifts without losing the humor, and that change gives the book its heart.
The illustrations also do a lot of heavy lifting. They convey the fear in a humorous way while still being completely age-appropriate for readers aged four to eight.
What Gave Me Pause
Not a thing, really. My only tiny note is that some of the imagined-fear pages are busy enough that a very young four-year-old might need a grown-up to walk them through what’s happening. Nothing that stops the story, just something I noticed.
Questions:
Is it funny? Yes.
Is it heartwarming? Also yes, and it manages to be both humorous and heartfelt without either one canceling out the other.
Is there a satisfying ending? Heck, yes!
My Recommendation:
If you’re looking for a book that is both heartwarming and humorous, this is the book for you. It would work well in homes, homeschools, classrooms, and churches.
Tristan Miranda and his father are a writing team. Whether it's writing, working out, or riding motorcycles, they do everything together. Both are engineers by trade and storytellers by craft. They live in California, where the weather is good, and the memories are better.
Want to know what inspired Uncle Unk’s hilarious panic, or where he and Baby Reese are headed next? In our author interview, Tristan Miranda shares the real-life “new uncle” moment behind the story, how his niece inspired Baby Reese, his creative partnership with illustrator Seth Thompson, and what readers can expect from Uncle Unk’s next adventure.
