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IN OUR GARDEN

Name: IN OUR GARDEN
Author: Pat Zietlow Miller
ISBN: 978-1-984812-10-0

by Pat Zietlow Miller ; illustrated by Melissa Crowton ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2022

A nourishing delight.

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Gray days spur a child to come up with a creative solution to ennui.

Millie realizes that a rooftop garden could be just what the school needs. Millie shares their idea with the other students, who are initially skeptical. The teacher finally agrees, though a rooftop garden will be a lot of work. With the help of the community, they build their garden, and wait…and wait…and wait for their seeds to sprout and for the brown soil to be filled with colorful vegetables. Once sprouted and grown, the produce comes in a deluge, and all of the children get to take home veggies in an assortment of colors. Reminiscent of Christian Robinson’s art, Crowton’s extraordinary illustrations are appropriate for a child audience; Millie, who just moved from “more than an ocean away” and has pale skin and dark hair, and the racially diverse students look as though they could break the fourth wall and start talking to the reader. The primary colors are bright and clear and can easily be seen from a distance during a read-aloud. Miller’s lyrical prose is breezy and engaging, emphasizing how important teamwork is when it comes to creating a successful garden and that the waiting period between planting and growing can feel excruciating. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A nourishing delight. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: March 15, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-984812-10-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING

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UNSTOPPABLE JOHN
by Pat Zietlow Miller ; illustrated by Jerry Jordan

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LUPE LOPEZ
by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo & Pat Zietlow Miller ; illustrated by Joe Cepeda

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A GIRL CAN BUILD ANYTHING
by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo & Pat Zietlow Miller ; illustrated by Keisha Morris

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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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TINY T. REX AND THE IMPOSSIBLE HUG

by Jonathan Stutzman ; illustrated by Jay Fleck ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2019

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back.

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With such short arms, how can Tiny T. Rex give a sad friend a hug?

Fleck goes for cute in the simple, minimally detailed illustrations, drawing the diminutive theropod with a chubby turquoise body and little nubs for limbs under a massive, squared-off head. Impelled by the sight of stegosaurian buddy Pointy looking glum, little Tiny sets out to attempt the seemingly impossible, a comforting hug. Having made the rounds seeking advice—the dino’s pea-green dad recommends math; purple, New Age aunt offers cucumber juice (“That is disgusting”); red mom tells him that it’s OK not to be able to hug (“You are tiny, but your heart is big!”), and blue and yellow older sibs suggest practice—Tiny takes up the last as the most immediately useful notion. Unfortunately, the “tree” the little reptile tries to hug turns out to be a pterodactyl’s leg. “Now I am falling,” Tiny notes in the consistently self-referential narrative. “I should not have let go.” Fortunately, Tiny lands on Pointy’s head, and the proclamation that though Rexes’ hugs may be tiny, “I will do my very best because you are my very best friend” proves just the mood-lightening ticket. “Thank you, Tiny. That was the biggest hug ever.” Young audiences always find the “clueless grown-ups” trope a knee-slapper, the overall tone never turns preachy, and Tiny’s instinctive kindness definitely puts him at (gentle) odds with the dinky dino star of Bob Shea’s Dinosaur Vs. series.

Wins for compassion and for the refusal to let physical limitations hold one back. (Picture book. 5-7)