A clarion call for individual agency in protecting the environment that’s suitable for the preschool set.
A board-book primer outlines simple steps for changing environmental culture for the better.
On the opening double-page spread, the book gets straight to the pith of the matter, stating the first small but powerful habit that people can cultivate on a daily basis in order to protect and help heal the environment: “Change starts with...planting trees.” With just one sentence per double-page spread, the text goes on to present 11 more eco-friendly choices that readers can make. Most preschool-aged children will find some of the actions easily understandable, such as turning off the tap to save water and picking up litter. Other action items, like “saving power” (the artwork shows a brown-skinned caregiver hanging laundry on a clothesline as a brown-skinned boy clad in a superhero getup looks on) and “ditching the car” (in the accompanying illustration, a White adult and a group of children—three White, one brown-skinned—ride bicycles and a scooter), are not as accessible. As such, children will need adult scaffolding in order to grasp some of the ideas. The text’s use of anaphoric repetition creates emphasis and memorability. Beer’s cartoony digital illustrations are cheerful, busy, and colorful with a flat-planed, childlike look. They depict many different children with various skin tones and hair textures in settings that range from the beach and a garden to an animal farm and a farmers market.
A clarion call for individual agency in protecting the environment that’s suitable for the preschool set. (Board book. 0-3)Pub Date: Dec. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-40610-6
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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