Appealing illustrations and strong sensory descriptions make this volume a superb choice for a calm, nighttime lap read or a...
Gerkman introduces young readers to a poem employing a variety of new springtime vocabulary words in this short but image-packed debut picture book.
Despite a lingering chill, spring begins bringing green back to the world—every “tree and hill”—as this volume opens. Showing a lovely image of pink cherry blossoms blowing onto a garden arbor and catching on fern fronds on the next page, the volume offers children first a look at the changing plants, and then at the assorted animals, that signify the spring season. Images of tadpoles, daffodils, tulips, and ducks should be familiar to residents of the Northern states. Then Gerkman, an accomplished illustrator, introduces a few rarer species: egrets and cormorants make their appearances, adding “their chorus to the mix.” After a wonderful list of sights and sounds in the natural world—and the man-made one, as the book mentions the smell of “fresh mown lawn”—the poem finishes on a note about the fleeting nature of the season: “Too soon, daylight hours will lengthen / And Spring will have gone.” Although the poetic nuances may go over the heads of young lap readers hearing the words aloud from their caretakers, the images are wonderfully sensory and accessible, whether it’s the quacks of ducks to their young or the smells of hyacinths and grass. Gerkman provides a glossary of some of the less familiar words at the end, although she omits words like “arbor” and “frond,” which, while depicted, are still likely to be unfamiliar to young readers and listeners. The illustrations throughout are a delight, particularly the wonderfully lifelike birds and detailed flowers. Children should gravitate to the tadpoles in the pond (decorated by the previous page’s cherry blossoms for a fun continuity), the ducklings, and the doe and her fawn, but adults will likely appreciate Gerkman’s efforts to achieve anatomical accuracy in rendering the smaller, active songbirds. The poem scans well, its rhythm never faltering under the sophisticated word choices.
Appealing illustrations and strong sensory descriptions make this volume a superb choice for a calm, nighttime lap read or a unit on the seasons for lower elementary school classes.Pub Date: June 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4575-3852-0
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Dog Ear
Review Posted Online: March 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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