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WHY EVERGREENS KEEP THEIR LEAVES

Name: WHY EVERGREENS KEEP THEIR LEAVES
Author: Annemarie Guertin
ISBN: 978-1-64170-158-7

by Annemarie Guertin ; illustrated by Helena Pérez García ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2019

Fables are fine, but why eschew facts? (Picture book. 4-7)

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An original pourquoi tale seeks to explain cardinal behavior.

This book does double duty, both explaining why coniferous trees remain green in the wintertime and also explaining why cardinals never migrate south. On the day that a little red bird injures her wing, just before the onset of winter, she decides to seek shelter in the branches of a strong tree. Unfortunately, the deciduous trees she encounters are less than inviting. The birch feels too weak, the oak too miserly, and the maple too self-absorbed to offer her any aid. Distraught, Little Redbird is comforted by a fir tree who, along with a blue spruce and a juniper, promises the bird food and shelter. This act of kindness is rewarded by the Frost Queen, who in turn informs her son Jack (who, like her, presents white and human) to never touch the leaves of the trees that helped Little Redbird. The telling adheres closely to the cadences and conventions of most classic folktales. Bold colors and the striking contrast of the red bird within a green tree are on full display, giving each page a true jolt of visual pop. Alas, this beauty is marred by the inexplicable choice to make the bird female. Only male cardinals are red, a fact completely ignored by this otherwise sweet tale.

Fables are fine, but why eschew facts? (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-64170-158-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Familius

Review Posted Online: June 9, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
HOW THE FINCH GOT HIS COLORS
by Annemarie Guertin ; illustrated by Helena Pérez García

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THE DAY THE CRAYONS MADE FRIENDS

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 3, 2025

Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees.

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After Duncan finds his crayons gone—yet again—letters arrive, detailing their adventures in friendship.

Eleven crayons send missives from their chosen spots throughout Duncan’s home (and one from his classroom). Red enjoys the thrill of extinguishing “pretend fires” with Duncan’s toy firetruck. White, so often dismissed as invisible, finds a new calling subbing in for the missing queen on the black-and-white chessboard. “Now everyone ALWAYS SEES ME!…(Well, half the time!)” Pink’s living the dream as a pastry chef helming the Breezy Bake Oven, “baking everything from little cupcakes…to…OTHER little cupcakes!” Teal, who’s hitched a ride to school in Duncan’s backpack, meets the crayons in the boy’s desk and writes, “Guess what? I HAVE A TWIN! How come you never told me?” Duncan wants to see his crayons and “meet their new friends.” A culminating dinner party assembles the crayons and their many guests: a table tennis ball, dog biscuits, a well-loved teddy bear, and more. The premise—personified crayons, away and back again—is well-trammeled territory by now, after over a dozen books and spinoffs, and Jeffers once more delivers his signature cartooning and hand-lettering. Though the pages lack the laugh-out-loud sight gags and side-splittingly funny asides of previous outings, readers—especially fans of the crayons’ previous outings—will enjoy checking in on their pals.

Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 3, 2025

ISBN: 9780593622360

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Philomel

Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE FREDDIE TWO PANTS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins

- BOOK REVIEW
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY FROM THE CRAYONS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

- BOOK REVIEW
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY FROM THE CRAYONS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

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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)