An eloquently told story of symbiosis.
It takes an avian village to raise an oak tree.
The problem? Acorns must travel out of the shadows of the oaks that produce them if they are to thrive, but they’re too heavy for the wind to blow them away. Enter the blue jays, for whom acorns are both a treat and pre-winter fuel. Street explains how the “blue crew” carry so many at once (“a few stowed in the throat pocket… / one in the mouth, another in the beak”). Other animals are hungry, too, so “the jays must work quickly,” gathering acorns and stashing them for later. The birds search for the buried acorns under snow, and the ones they miss sprout in spring. Nestlings eat insects; summer passes. Soon, “a scold of jays” begins collecting and burying acorns again. And over time, a new forest of oaks thrives. Active verbs (pries, hammers) and elegant imagery (“a flash of sapphire in the sun—blue white”) add resonance. A half dozen final pages explain the science behind the mutualism of oaks and blue jays, both keystone species, and describe several jay species. Hunter’s soft and subtle pen, ink, and colored pencil illustrations, both close-ups and from a distance, and from high and low perspectives alike, are as lyrical and lovely as the text.
An eloquently told story of symbiosis. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9781682636046
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Margaret Quinlin Books/Peachtree
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard.
A grouchy sapling on a Christmas tree farm finds that there are better things than lights and decorations for its branches.
A Grinch among the other trees on the farm is determined never to become a sappy Christmas tree—and never to leave its spot. Its determination makes it so: It grows gnarled and twisted and needle-less. As time passes, the farm is swallowed by the suburbs. The neighborhood kids dare one another to climb the scary, grumpy-looking tree, and soon, they are using its branches for their imaginative play, the tree serving as a pirate ship, a fort, a spaceship, and a dragon. But in winter, the tree stands alone and feels bereft and lonely for the first time ever, and it can’t look away from the decorated tree inside the house next to its lot. When some parents threaten to cut the “horrible” tree down, the tree thinks, “Not now that my limbs are full of happy children,” showing how far it has come. Happily for the tree, the children won’t give up so easily, and though the tree never wished to become a Christmas tree, it’s perfectly content being a “trick or tree.” Martinez’s digital illustrations play up the humorous dichotomy between the happy, aspiring Christmas trees (and their shoppers) and the grumpy tree, and the diverse humans are satisfyingly expressive.
Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-7335-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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