A productive, if overlong, mix of storytelling and gardening tips.
Venetta’s debut children’s book conveys the thrill of growing one’s own food.
Lexi Williams and her brother Jason lack their mother’s passion for gardening until they find out about a kids’ contest. Suddenly, they both want to grow potatoes, carrots, and broccoli in order to win a prize of two tickets to the fall festival and $100. Lexi dreams of taking her best friend, Amy Atkins, to the festival, while Jason longs to spend the cash prize on new soccer shoes. The suspense builds as Lexi, Jason, and their mother plant tiny seeds, ward off caterpillars that threaten to devour their vegetables, and try to train the family’s youngest child, Timmy, to pull up weeds. Venetta credibly captures the children’s voices; for example, Lexi keeps a list of the many ways in which siblings are annoying. “Reason number seven hundred and thirty-two not to like brothers: They’re downers,” she thinks, after Jason frets that their vegetables are too small. Parents will recognize themselves, too: when Jason’s mother tells him to be careful with kitchen cutlery, Venetta writes, “Jason doubted the knife his mom used to spread peanut butter on his sandwiches was going to cut off his finger, but nodded anyway.” The book is also a worthy guide for parents and caregivers aiming to cultivate children’s interest in gardening. The author extols the virtues of worm feces as plant food, touts peppermint to deter ants, and points out that worker bees are female. Still, readers may find it difficult to sustain their interest for the book’s 260 pages, which include recipes and gardening lessons; there’s just enough suspense to make readers want to read to the end, but Venetta probably could have achieved her goals in two-thirds of the space. Some of the dialogue is mundane, and the book repeats points as it alternates between the narrative and the children’s journal entries. The book is also slightly prone to gender stereotypes; for instance, the girls make corn-cob dolls while Jason builds a box for a beehive with his father. However, Motz’s (What Shall We Dream, 2016, etc.) vivid color illustrations re-create both the contemplative and exhilarating feelings of being in a garden. They convey the kids’ expressions of wonderment and further the author’s goal of interesting children in gardening.
A productive, if overlong, mix of storytelling and gardening tips.Pub Date: July 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9911182-9-8
Page Count: 258
Publisher: BloominThyme Press
Review Posted Online: June 16, 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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