An insightful consideration of the global water crisis.
Amid water scarcity, a small Cuban town adapts and survives thanks to the water man.
Water day is finally here! Before the water man arrives, the family must prepare. Mami needs to “mend our leaky hose while Papi fixes the rusty pump” to ensure that the blue tank on the roof can hold all the water that the “whole thirsty familia” needs. It’s been five days since la familia last got water to bathe, cook, drink, and flush the toilet. But here comes the water man, bringing in water via wagon and horse. Bisabuelita sings to the fruit trees; she remembers the days when the plentiful rains would fill wells and big clay jars. “What changed? Everything. Weather. Rivers. Groundwater. Lakes.” Now, it’s water day that brings those hopeful stirrings “like a river of joy” to the neighborhood. When everyone gets the water that’s needed, the water man departs, expected back in another five days. In this understated, plainspoken, yet compelling tale narrated by the family’s child, Engle chronicles an unfortunate reality for many communities. The subsequent author’s note briefly reiterates the complex, often interwoven reasons behind water shortages across the world and includes a limited call to action that’s easy to miss. Sua’s rustic, lively, cheerful artwork depicts a vibrant Cuban community with people diverse in skin tones. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An insightful consideration of the global water crisis. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2023
ISBN: 9781665918718
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
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
Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators.
Existing artwork from an artistic giant inspires a fairy-tale reimagination by a master of the horror genre.
In King’s interpretation of a classic Brothers Grimm story, which accompanies set and costume designs that the late Sendak created for a 1997 production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, siblings Hansel and Gretel survive abandonment in the woods and an evil witch’s plot to gobble them up before finding their “happily ever after” alongside their father. Prose with the reassuring cadence of an old-timey tale, paired with Sendak’s instantly recognizable artwork, will lull readers before capitalizing on these creators’ knack for injecting darkness into seemingly safe spaces. Gaping faces loom in crevices of rocks and trees, and a gloomy palette of muted greens and ocher amplify the story’s foreboding tone, while King never sugarcoats the peach-skinned children’s peril. Branches with “clutching fingers” hide “the awful enchanted house” of a “child-stealing witch,” all portrayed in an eclectic mix of spot and full-bleed images. Featuring insults that might strike some as harsh (“idiot,” “fool”), the lengthy, dense text may try young readers’ patience, and the often overwhelmingly ominous mood feels more pitched to adults—particularly those familiar with King and Sendak—but an introduction acknowledges grandparents as a likely audience, and nostalgia may prompt leniency over an occasional disconnect between words and art.
Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9780062644695
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
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