Next book

A CHILD'S GARDEN

A STORY OF HOPE

Foreman specifies no locale for his brief parable, but there’s a Middle-Eastern look to the buildings in the background (although the characters are all pale-skinned). Amid the drably hued rubble of a bombed town isolated from an undamaged city by a tall, barbed-wire fence, a child spots a small green shoot. With TLC, that shoot grows into a lush grapevine that hangs over the barbed wire and draws beautiful birds and butterflies. When soldiers tear it down, the lad “thought his heart would break”—but the following spring new shoots grow on both sides of the fence and, silently joined by a girl on the other side, the boy sees the vines grow and intertwine to cover the barricade more luxuriantly than ever. Closing with a view of hundreds of flower-carrying children walking together through a fenceless, now-verdant landscape, this vision of persecution and rebirth carries a broad streak of sentimentality, but will make an effective starter for peacemongering discussions with young audiences. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: May 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-7636-4271-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2009

Next book

THE STORM

From the Lighthouse Family series , Vol. 1

At her best, Rylant’s (The Ticky-Tacky Doll, below, etc.) sweetness and sentiment fills the heart; in this outing, however, sentimentality reigns and the end result is pretty gooey. Pandora keeps a lighthouse: her destiny is to protect ships at sea. She’s lonely, but loves her work. She rescues Seabold and heals his broken leg, and he stays on to mend his shipwrecked boat. This wouldn’t be so bad but Pandora’s a cat and Seabold a dog, although they are anthropomorphized to the max. Then the duo rescue three siblings—mice!—and make a family together, although Rylant is careful to note that Pandora and Seabold each have their own room. Choosing what you love, caring for others, making a family out of love, it is all very well, but this capsizes into silliness. Formatted to look like the start of a new series. Oh, dear. (Fiction. 6-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002

ISBN: 0-689-84880-3

Page Count: 80

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002

Next book

WAITING IS NOT EASY!

From the Elephant & Piggie series

A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends

Gerald the elephant learns a truth familiar to every preschooler—heck, every human: “Waiting is not easy!”

When Piggie cartwheels up to Gerald announcing that she has a surprise for him, Gerald is less than pleased to learn that the “surprise is a surprise.” Gerald pumps Piggie for information (it’s big, it’s pretty, and they can share it), but Piggie holds fast on this basic principle: Gerald will have to wait. Gerald lets out an almighty “GROAN!” Variations on this basic exchange occur throughout the day; Gerald pleads, Piggie insists they must wait; Gerald groans. As the day turns to twilight (signaled by the backgrounds that darken from mauve to gray to charcoal), Gerald gets grumpy. “WE HAVE WASTED THE WHOLE DAY!…And for WHAT!?” Piggie then gestures up to the Milky Way, which an awed Gerald acknowledges “was worth the wait.” Willems relies even more than usual on the slightest of changes in posture, layout and typography, as two waiting figures can’t help but be pretty static. At one point, Piggie assumes the lotus position, infuriating Gerald. Most amusingly, Gerald’s elephantine groans assume weighty physicality in spread-filling speech bubbles that knock Piggie to the ground. And the spectacular, photo-collaged images of the Milky Way that dwarf the two friends makes it clear that it was indeed worth the wait.

A lesson that never grows old, enacted with verve by two favorite friends . (Early reader. 6-8)

Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-4231-9957-1

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Hyperion

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014

Close Quickview