The intricacies of the vibrant artwork dazzle, helping to lift the weak storyline.
As a community garden springs up between concrete blocks and asphalt slabs, the literal urban jungle’s praises are sung with each scene of burgeoning life.
Vegetable plots, flower beds, and containers inspire city dwellers of all stripes and sizes to “dig the ground.” The book’s rapid progression from idyllic country meadows at the outset to congested city blocks in just a few pages will puzzle readers. Has that same meadow become a victim of encroaching urban sprawl in the blink of an eye? Or has the lush rural landscape been juxtaposed with barren metropolitan streets for the sake of comparison? It’s at this moment that Sánchez’s multiracial city residents come together to transform a vacant lot into a community garden. Terse couplets of rhymes and near rhymes are interspersed with weak four-line verses. The uneven meter and unimaginative repetition drag the rhythm down. “Lift and clear. / Shovel rows. / Working together, / our garden grows… // and GROWS… // AND GROWS.” The artist’s deft hand captures the varied shades of green thriving across the countryside and the orchestrated greens of the communal garden. Along fences, on windowsills, and in postage stamp–sized yards, butterflies and bright flowers join in an explosion of color that draws neighbors together. A craft as well as tips for organizing community gardens and creating pollinator-friendly habitats are included.
The intricacies of the vibrant artwork dazzle, helping to lift the weak storyline. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 9, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-374-32797-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers.
Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
