While championing female farmers, this sumptuous book also celebrates discovery and good taste.
This latest installment in the Food Heroes series explores how a Massachusetts woman—and friend of the author—became a farmer by learning to grow what she enjoyed eating.
Inspired by the scent of herbs at a local market, Eva Sommaripa started small by growing parsley, dill, and basil for her family on a parcel of land between the ocean and a forest. Martin’s lyrical verse describes the pleasure that Eva experienced: “Tending plants under the blue sky / soil on her hands, birdsong all around, / Eva’s best good time.” Eventually, she added other greens and herbs, with enough to spare for local chefs and her farm workers’ lunches. Eva’s curiosity about the life beneath her work boots led to research about the creatures living there, from worms to microbes. Richly textured spreads and spot art, composed of prints and collage elements, illuminate the vital roles of those “critters” and display Eva’s “compost buffet,” which includes coffee husks and “fish and chips” (seaweed and shells). “Eva’s Garden” has now been in business for more than 50 years; her nurturing has expanded to local children and new farmers who come to discover her sustainable methods. The joy Eva finds in the natural world culminates in her annual potluck, held in honor of the solstice. Eva’s community is a diverse one.
While championing female farmers, this sumptuous book also celebrates discovery and good taste. (notes from the author and Sommaripa, more info on Sommaripa, Eva’s recipe for growing pea shoots, information about underground creatures, resources) (Picture-book biography. 5-9)Pub Date: June 25, 2024
ISBN: 9780998047775
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Readers to Eaters
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
An inspiring introduction to the young Nobel Peace Prize winner and a useful conversation starter.
The latest of many picture books about the young heroine from Pakistan, this one is narrated by Malala herself, with a frame that is accessible to young readers.
Malala introduces her story using a television show she used to watch about a boy with a magic pencil that he used to get himself and his friends out of trouble. Readers can easily follow Malala through her own discovery of troubles in her beloved home village, such as other children not attending school and soldiers taking over the village. Watercolor-and-ink illustrations give a strong sense of setting, while gold ink designs overlay Malala’s hopes onto her often dreary reality. The story makes clear Malala’s motivations for taking up the pen to tell the world about the hardships in her village and only alludes to the attempt on her life, with a black page (“the dangerous men tried to silence me. / But they failed”) and a hospital bracelet on her wrist the only hints of the harm that came to her. Crowds with signs join her call before she is shown giving her famous speech before the United Nations. Toward the end of the book, adult readers may need to help children understand Malala’s “work,” but the message of holding fast to courage and working together is powerful and clear.
An inspiring introduction to the young Nobel Peace Prize winner and a useful conversation starter. (Picture book/memoir. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-31957-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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