Grounded in both nature and nurture: a tale sure to affirm the nonconformist’s spirit.
A girl with unconventional passions finds her community.
Shocking her parents—both expert gardeners—baby Prunella arrives not with the proverbial green thumb, but a purple one. Accordingly, Prunella’s plant affinities run to the spiny, carnivorous, fungal, and poisonous sorts. While her parents don’t always understand her predilections, they nurture them anyway. From bladderwort to voodoo lilies, her plants “pinched and poked and reeked.” Neighborhood kids avoid Prunella and her garden. Like a species with protective spines, Prunella grows “prickly,” eschewing her peers. Though concerned, her parents know that her “strong roots” will help her “blossom” when she’s ready. Opportunity arrives with Oliver, a young aspiring botanist who can correctly identify Prunella’s plants and convinces her to diagnose his ailing Venus flytrap. Prunella begins to open up as Oliver and his sister, future mycologist Clem, enter her life, planting a “tiny, hopeful friend-shaped seed.” The siblings connect her with a “bouquet of botanists” (as well as “one very curious entomologist”), and the fruit from a thorny new plant—blackberries!—stains everyone’s thumbs purple. Keane supplies accomplished, episodic, animation-influenced illustrations in a palette of blue-gray, ochre, and red. Kids attracted to unusual plants will encounter an equally satisfying theme: Cultivate your passions, and your people will show up. Prunella and her parents are brown-skinned with straight black hair, Oliver and Clem are Black, and the community is diverse.
Grounded in both nature and nurture: a tale sure to affirm the nonconformist’s spirit. (information on “Prunella’s persnickety plants”) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781665921732
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share.
In this latest in the series, Little Blue Truck, driven by pal Toad, is challenged to a countryside race by Racer Red, a sleek, low-slung vehicle.
Blue agrees, and the race is on. Although the two start off “hood to hood / and wheel to wheel,” they switch positions often as they speed their way over dusty country roads. Blue’s farm friends follow along to share in the excitement and shout out encouragement; adult readers will have fun voicing the various animal sounds. Short rhyming verses on each page and several strategic page turns add drama to the narrative, but soft, mottled effects in the otherwise colorful illustrations keep the competition from becoming too intense. Racer Red crosses the finish line first, but Blue is a gracious loser, happy to have worked hard. That’s a new concept for Racer Red, who’s laser-focused on victory but takes Blue’s words (“win or lose, it’s fun to try!”) to heart—a revelation that may lead to worthwhile storytime discussions. When Blue’s farm animal friends hop into the truck for the ride home, Racer Red tags along and learns a second lesson, one about speed. “Fast is fun, / and slow is too, / as long as you’re / with friends.”
A friendship tale with solid messaging and plenty of fun sounds to share. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780063387843
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet notion that falls flat.
A hit song reimagined as a book about parental love.
Featured in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1, Perri’s “A Thousand Years” deals with the speaker’s fear of romantic love. In picture-book form, it explores a parent’s unwavering love for a child, who grows from an infant into a toddler over the course of the narrative. The caregiver expresses awe when the youngster learns to stand and fear that the child might fall while beginning to walk. “I have spent every day waiting for you,” the parent says. “Darling, don’t be afraid.” What the child might fear isn’t clear from the joyful balloon- and rainbow-filled illustrations. The story borders on cloying, and words that might work when sung and accompanied by music don’t sound fresh on the page: “Time goes by. / You grow ever stronger as you fly.” The refrain, however, is a lovely sentiment: “I have loved you for a thousand years. / I’ll love you for a thousand more.” Perri’s legion of fans may flock to this version, illustrated by Ruiz with sparkling stars, bubbles, and big-eyed toddlers, but it doesn’t hold together as a narrative or an ode, as it’s billed, and it’s a long way from the original song. The child is tan-skinned, the parent is lighter-skinned, and other characters are diverse.
A sweet notion that falls flat. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 1, 2025
ISBN: 9780593622599
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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