An engaging, effectively illustrated introduction to a rarely covered nature subject for young readers.
Nuts the Squirrel explains how mother trees protect seedlings in this picture book.
Like pigs, ducklings, dogs, and cats, trees have mothers—who protect their babies from insects, filter pollution, and provide water to saplings in times of scarcity. “Mother trees are easy to spot,” Nuts says, “they’re the tall ones in the middle of all their babies.” Forest ecosystems are not just about animal life. Bongers’ story offers a refreshing exploration of how plants “talk” to one another that is useful in part because of its simplicity and visual appeal. The author’s offbeat, digital art wavers between the cartoonish and the near psychedelic. Nuts has bulging eyes and a funky little smile, and he’s accompanied by silly props to illustrate the actions he describes. But the transfer of information and water between tree root systems appears as a subterranean, swirling network in contrasting, complementary colors. Information about the world appears as small white lines and circles traveling from deep, mature roots to a sapling’s smaller ones. Satisfying symmetry and halos of pale light around the crowns of trees bring a nearly spiritual tone to the pictures even as cartoon animals goof off nearby. Endmatter helps adults find more information on mother trees and their place in the forest ecosystem.
An engaging, effectively illustrated introduction to a rarely covered nature subject for young readers.Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-77162-325-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A forgettable tale.
Dot, the smallest reindeer at the North Pole, is too little to fly with the reindeer team on Christmas Eve, but she helps Santa in a different, unexpected way.
Dot is distressed because she can’t jump and fly like the other, bigger reindeer. Her family members encourage her and help her practice her skills, and her mother tells her, “There’s always next year.” Dot’s elf friend, Oliver, encourages her and spends time playing with her, doing things that Dot can do well, such as building a snowman and chasing their friend Yeti (who looks like a fuzzy, white gumdrop). On Christmas Eve, Santa and the reindeer team take off with their overloaded sleigh. Only Dot notices one small present that’s fallen in the snow, and she successfully leaps into the departing sleigh with the gift. This climactic flying leap into the sleigh is not adequately illustrated, as Dot is shown just starting to leap and then already in the sleigh. A saccharine conclusion notes that being little can sometimes be great and that “having a friend by your side makes anything possible.” The story is pleasant but predictable, with an improbably easy solution to Dot’s problem. Illustrations in a muted palette are similarly pleasant but predictable, with a greeting-card flavor that lacks originality. The elf characters include boys, girls, and adults; all the elves and Santa and Mrs. Claus are white.
A forgettable tale. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-338-15738-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
Delightful and engaging.
Preschoolers can follow a little brown mouse on its traveling adventures in this engaging color concept book.
As the book starts, a little mouse can be seen packing up her equally itty-bitty suitcase. Rhyming text with a wonderful read-aloud rhythm introduces readers to the little mouse’s street: “Red house / Blue house / Green house / Tree house! / See the tiny mouse / in her little brown house?” Clean-lined, colorful illustrations in Gómez’s signature style lead readers along: into a flower-filled garden; on a ride on a red city bus; in a potted windowsill plant attended by a child; on the curb where a group of people wait to cross a street; in an underwater scene with “one gigantic whale!”; and on a jolly ride that employs a string of vehicles. The little mouse is not mentioned again, making it easy for readers to forget it as they get caught up in the myriad delightful details of each illustration. No problem there. The book ends with “and did you spot that mouse?” This should send children back to the beginning, this time in earnest search of the little mouse and her itty-bitty suitcase. Should children need further enticement to read the book again, travel patches on the endpapers invite readers to match them to the relevant part in the story. The people depicted are diverse both racially as well as in physical ability.
Delightful and engaging. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55381-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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