An often lively take on what children may accomplish with a garden.
An earnest book about gardening that aims to teach children and adults alike how to grow food organically.
Fresh from their win in a vegetable-growing contest in Venetta’s first book, Show Me the Green! (2015), Lexi and Jason Williams become evangelists for gardening at their school, Beacon Academy. They’re eager to spread the word about organic planting techniques after their school principal puts them in charge of a contest that could win them grant money. The plot is similar to that of the previous book, but Venetta weaves in enough new information to give this one a fresh feel. When a child discovers a hornworm threatening the tomatoes, Jason explains that they need to get rid of the pest before it devours everything. Realizing that the younger children will be horrified if he kills the worm, Jason and his friend hatch a plan to keep it in a classroom. As Lexi and Jason fret about whether they’ll win the contest money, they come up with a plan to sell seeds to cover the cost of next year’s garden in case another school beats them. They also decide to teach local people how to grow their own food. He and his sister repeatedly devise such clever solutions, and some readers may wish that they were a little less perfect. Indeed, it would all feel cloying if not for the fact that community gardens have indeed become sources of food in many cities. Aided by Motz’s lively illustrations, Venetta moves the story along deftly, which makes her occasional strange phrasing jarring, as when she describes one of Lexi’s bouts of anxiety: “Nerves skirted through her pulse.” The author is stronger when she describes the garden itself: “Corn stalks were tall and thick and looked like a wall of floppy green leaves...squash plants were sturdy and full, their wide leaves shading the pale yellow fruits beneath.”
An often lively take on what children may accomplish with a garden.Pub Date: April 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9964391-8-3
Page Count: 294
Publisher: BloominThyme Press
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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