Poignant and lovely.
Poet Kooser explores the tension between the human predilection for taming nature and the triumph of the wild.
A solitary house, its lawn bordered by thick woods, shelters a father, boy and girl. The children play in the woods while their father meticulously mows, plucking tree seedlings at every appearance. The children grow up and leave, and dad, yard work too much for him, follows. Unsold and unwanted, the house leaks and sags. Kooser describes the transformation: “Some of the seeds had sprouted along the foundation, where water ran off the roof… and these little trees were soon saplings, pressed against the side of the house.” Paradoxically, the rotting house, nails rusting and boards pulling away, is kept intact by the maturing trees. Kooser, his language plain yet rich, marvels quietly: "[A]s they grew bigger and stronger, they held it / together as if it was a bird’s nest in the fingers of their branches.” Klassen’s stylized pictures, in a muted palette of umber, brick red and green-gray, capture the isolation of both house and father. The lawn, that point of pride, isn’t lushly depicted. Rather, it’s a collection of fitful, pale strokes, suspended below a swirl of winged seeds. Double-page spreads show the shift from foundational support to that of the tight phalanx of trees. In the final spread, the house is seen from below, high in the trees’ sure embrace.
Poignant and lovely. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: March 27, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7636-510-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A thoughtful role model for aspiring inventors.
In this collaboration from mother/daughter duo Corrigan and Corrigan Lichty, a youngster longs to quit the soccer team so she can continue dreaming up more inventions.
Marianne, a snazzily dressed young maker with tan skin, polka-dot glasses, and reddish-brown hair in two buns, feels out of place on the pitch. Her soccer-loving dad signed her up for the team, but she’d much rather be home tinkering and creating. One day she feigns illness to get out of practice (relying on a trick she learned from the film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and uses her newfound time to create a flying machine made from bath towels, umbrellas, cans, and more. Eventually, her dad catches wind of her deception, and she tells him she prefers inventing to playing soccer. Immediately supportive, he plops a pot on his head and becomes Marianne’s tinkering apprentice. Told in lilting rhymes, the story resolves its conflicts rather speedily (Marianne confesses to hating soccer in one swift line). Though the text is wordy at times, it’s quite jaunty, and adults (and retro-loving kids) will chuckle at the ’80s references, from the Ferris Bueller and Dirty Dancing movie posters in Marianne’s room to the name of her dog, Patrick Swayze. True to Marianne’s creative nature, Sweetland surrounds her with lots of clutter and scraps, as well as plenty of bits and bobs. One never knows where inspiration will strike next.
A thoughtful role model for aspiring inventors. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780593206096
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flamingo Books
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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