Exemplifying urban diversity and ecological harmony, this city will garner return visits from green-keen readers.
This panoramic, morning-to-bedtime city tour presents an urban environment sustainably tooled to help all its inhabitants thrive.
An omniscient narrator introduces readers to the city’s modes of transportation, energy resources, and commercial neighborhood as well as its many places to garden and play. Larmour’s charming, digitally finished watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations present mainly bird’s-eye (and occasional worm’s-eye) views, but she also shows readers a rain garden, the veggie-rich kitchen of a multiracial family, and a stream teeming with wildlife. Pictures brim with examples of a community focused on renewable energy, from a charging station to a clothesline; a green roof to solar panels and wind turbines. Families might well envy the thriving “green classroom,” the playground with tree-spanning bridges, and community garden. The kid-friendly text for each double-page spread ends with a question, inviting enhanced interaction with the pictures. Questions range from the open-ended (“What games will you play?”) to the specific (“Can you spot a special visitor sipping from the zinnias?”). A final spread suggests “More Ways To Be Green,” such as a compost bin, a rain barrel, and a window box herb garden. People depicted vary in terms of skin tone. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Exemplifying urban diversity and ecological harmony, this city will garner return visits from green-keen readers. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0438-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer.
Rotner follows up her celebrations of spring and autumn with this look at all things winter.
Beginning with the signs that winter is coming—bare trees, shorter days, colder temperatures—Rotner eases readers into the season. People light fires and sing songs on the solstice, trees and plants stop growing, and shadows grow long. Ice starts to form on bodies of water and windows. When the snow flies, the fun begins—bundle up and then build forts, make snowballs and snowmen (with eyebrows!), sled, ski (nordic is pictured), skate, snowshoe, snowboard, drink hot chocolate. Animals adapt to the cold as well. “Birds grow more feathers” (there’s nothing about fluffing and air insulation) and mammals, more hair. They have to search for food, and Rotner discusses how many make or find shelter, slow down, hibernate, or go underground or underwater to stay warm. One page talks about celebrating holidays with lights and decorations. The photos show a lit menorah, an outdoor deciduous tree covered in huge Christmas bulbs, a girl next to a Chinese dragon head, a boy with lit luminarias, and some fireworks. The final spread shows signs of the season’s shift to spring. Rotner’s photos, as always, are a big draw. The children are a marvelous mix of cultures and races, and all show their clear delight with winter.
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3976-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
Pass.
The traditions and history of one of Mexico’s most important holidays are introduced in this latest of Eliot’s Celebrate the World series.
From setting up the flower-festooned altars to decorating the calaveras, the preparations depicted involve entire communities over several weeks. Characters in cowboy hats, sombreros, and baseball caps place the final touches on skeletons in full lucha libre regalia or spangled mariachi outfits. However, instead of accurately using Mexico’s name for the holiday, Día de Muertos, Eliot uses the English back-translation, “Día de los Muertos,” as is common in the U.S. even though the story evidently takes place in Mexico. Also, aside from stating that the celebration “is an ancient tradition,” there is no mention of its Indigenous, pre-European/Christian roots nor does the book actively distinguish between Día de Muertos and Halloween. The first-person narration vacillates between child and adult perspectives. “We do all this to celebrate the beauty of life and death rather than mourn it.” Gutierrez’s mixed-media illustrations are convulsive, crowded panes of frenetic activity. Exaggerated facial features border on stereotypical caricatures—snouts and bug eyes abound. Contributing to the crowded page design is the unfortunate choice of board rather than picture-book format. Consequently, the initial perception is that this series is geared toward toddlers, when it is the school-age child who would most benefit from the information in this book.
Pass. (Board book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1515-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
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