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BABA'S PEACH TREE

Name: BABA'S PEACH TREE
Author: Marie Tang
ISBN: 9780593565070

by Marie Tang ; illustrated by Seo Kim ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2024

A touching tribute to migrant workers who blossom in any soil.

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Just as their beloved peach tree cycles through seasons of change, so, too, do the lives of a father and child.

Tao Hua and Baba live in the mountains of China. Life isn’t easy, and they always have work to do, but they have each other…and a lovely peach tree that Baba tends to all year. Using poetic but matter-of-fact language, Tang describes this blessing in their lives (“Our tree’s cloud of flowers turned magenta like the sky at dinnertime”). Baba brings in extra income selling the peaches during the summer. Each day he saves the best one for Tao Hua, and every night, the child buries the pit in the field behind the house. One year, the peach tree fails to blossom; it’s reached the end of its life cycle. Baba works a series of jobs to earn money. Finally, he lands a stable job in the city, a dreary place without “peach sun” that nevertheless offers many opportunities. Years later, when Tao Hua has blossomed into an adult and Baba has grown old, they return to their mountain home. Rather than finding a single peach tree, they see “a rainbow of pink and red [reaching] high into the sky.” Kim’s delicate, expressive art portrays both the beauty of the natural world and this loving family’s indomitable spirit.

A touching tribute to migrant workers who blossom in any soil. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: May 14, 2024

ISBN: 9780593565070

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House Studio

Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IT'S NOT EASY BEING A GHOST

From the It's Not Easy Being series

by Marilyn Sadler ; illustrated by Stephanie Laberis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2024

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet.

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A ghost longs to be scary, but none of the creepy personas she tries on fit.

Misty, a feline ghost with big green eyes and long whiskers, wants to be the frightening presence that her haunted house calls for, but sadly, she’s “too cute to be spooky.” She dons toilet paper to resemble a mummy, attempts to fly on a broom like a witch, and howls at the moon like a werewolf. Nothing works. She heads to a Halloween party dressed reluctantly as herself. When she arrives, her friends’ joyful screams reassure her that she’s great just as she is. Sadler’s message, though a familiar one, is delivered effectively in a charming, ghostly package. Misty truly is too precious to be frightening. Laberis depicts an endearingly spooky, all-animal cast—a frog witch, for instance, and a crocodilian mummy. Misty’s sidekick, a cheery little bat who lends support throughout, might be even more adorable than she is. Though Misty’s haunted house is filled with cobwebs and surrounded by jagged, leafless trees, the charming characters keep things from ever getting too frightening. The images will encourage lingering looks. Clearly, there’s plenty that makes Misty special just as she is—a takeaway that adults sharing the book with their little ones should be sure to drive home.

Too cute to be spooky indeed but most certainly sweet. (Picture book. 4-6)