{"id":43041,"date":"2026-01-07T07:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T14:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=43041"},"modified":"2026-01-06T19:28:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T02:28:01","slug":"cone-and-skate-by-amy-nicolai-author-christina-michalos-illustrator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/?p=43041","title":{"rendered":"Cone and Skate by Amy Nicolai (Author), Christina Michalos (Illustrator)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A fun and spirited story of unexpected adventure and gentle self-discovery.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nicolai&#8217;s latest is a brisk, good-humored picture book that examines momentum, fear, and self-discovery through an unlikely pairing. Cone, a traffic cone content with routine, spends her days observing the familiar rhythms of the street. However, her sense of control is disrupted when Skate\u2014a skateboard with \u201ca need for speed\u201d\u2014collides with her, sending Cone rolling headlong into motion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What follows is a rapid series of strange encounters as Cone hangs on, alarmed and vocal\u2014\u201cGET ME OFF THIS THING!\u201d\u2014while Skate presses ahead with easy confidence. Nicolai traces Cone\u2019s emotional shift with care, letting fear soften into curiosity as the world opens up. Humor is in plenty but controlled, and the story\u2019s meaning emerges organically through Cone\u2019s changing perspective. Cone\u2019s closing request\u2014\u201cPlease call me Cone. Roll a little slower. And let\u2019s stop every once in a while\u2026 on purpose.\u201d\u2014lands as a quiet articulation of the book\u2019s core idea: adventure gains meaning when paired with choice and attentiveness. Christina Michalos\u2019s watercolor-style art blends whimsy with clarity, layering visual humor, imaginative details, and vibrant cityscapes that reward close attention.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A rollicking book that offers young readers a thoughtful take on risk and restraint, celebrating movement without losing sight of pause. Well suited to children exploring new experiences and libraries seeking reflective read-alouds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Pub date January 5, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">ISBN 9798218851323<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amynicolai.com\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.amynicolai.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Author website<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A fun and spirited story of unexpected adventure and gentle self-discovery. Nicolai&#8217;s latest is a brisk, good-humored picture book that examines momentum, fear, and self-discovery through an unlikely pairing. Cone, a traffic cone content with routine, spends her days observing the familiar rhythms of the street. However, her sense of control is disrupted when Skate\u2014a skateboard with \u201ca need for speed\u201d\u2014collides with her, sending Cone rolling headlong into motion.&nbsp; What follows is a rapid series [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145610851,"featured_media":43043,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[723771447,7223,91,2364,3328,178,706279332,723770710,258082,723771448,723771446,723771287,1136176,723769804,723769803,723769805,1473,1008073,856121,309,349],"class_list":["post-43041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amy-nicolai","tag-author","tag-blogging","tag-book","tag-book-reviews","tag-books","tag-childrens-pcture-books","tag-childrens-educational-books","tag-childrens-fiction","tag-christina-michalos","tag-cone-and-skate","tag-goodreads","tag-indie-books","tag-kindle","tag-kobo","tag-nook","tag-reading","tag-review-blog","tag-review-website","tag-reviews","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Screenshot-2026-01-06-7.20.53-PM.png?fit=395%2C532&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pajKJn-bcd","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/145610851"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43041"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43044,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43041\/revisions\/43044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theprairiesbookreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}