Daniel has enabled a full deep breath on every page of this gentle, relaxing book, which engages without overloading and...
Four-line poems lend a magical quality to a series of simple experiences witnessed once in a blue moon.
Daniel’s childlike illustrations, done in pencil and colored with flat fields of acrylic gouache in rich colors, accompany each poem, serving to frame moments in nature as special events. The format allows readers to go slowly and serves as an excellent way for children to become aware of nonrhyming poetic forms. It also conveys the sense of wonder that comes when taking a quiet moment to appreciate that which is not immediately “entertaining” in the modern sense. The repetition of the titular phrase, “Once in a blue moon,” and brevity of each poem make for a soothing bedtime read-aloud, but the book will also work well as a calm break in a busy day, and it is ripe with inspirations for further activities such as painting a similar scene and writing nonrhyming verses to reflect serene moments. Each “I” in the book can apply to children from many walks of life, as those depicted have different skin colors and hair textures and are in different environments in nature. Many may be close to readers’ own accessible experiences, while those that are different can inspire imagination about how other kids see the world.
Daniel has enabled a full deep breath on every page of this gentle, relaxing book, which engages without overloading and lends a specialness to things too easy to miss in the natural world. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-55498-975-1
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A solid, small step for diversifying STEM stories.
What does Annie want to be?
As career day approaches, Annie wants to keep her job choice secret until her family sees her presentation at school. Readers will figure it out, however, through the title and clues Tadgell incorporates into the illustrations. Family members make guesses about her ambitions that are tied to their own passions, although her brother watches as she completes her costume in a bedroom with a Mae Jemison poster, starry décor, and a telescope. There’s a celebratory mood at the culminating presentation, where Annie says she wants to “soar high through the air” like her basketball-playing mother, “explore faraway places” like her hiker dad, and “be brave and bold” like her baker grandmother (this feels forced, but oven mitts are part of her astronaut costume) so “the whole world will hear my exciting stories” like her reporter grandfather. Annie jumps off a chair to “BLAST OFF” in a small illustration superimposed on a larger picture depicting her floating in space with a reddish ground below. It’s unclear if Annie imagines this scene or if it’s her future-self exploring Mars, but either scenario fits the aspirational story. Backmatter provides further reading suggestions and information about the moon and four women astronauts, one of whom is Jemison. Annie and her family are all black.
A solid, small step for diversifying STEM stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-88448-523-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
This pleasant look at gardening in a city setting reflects a growing trend.
Several inner-city children work together to plant seeds and cultivate their own gardens, transforming their little “anywhere farms” into a lush, green community garden covering a vacant city lot.
A pink-cheeked little girl in overalls receives a single seed from a helpful tan-skinned neighbor on the title page, and she then inspires a flurry of gardening in her neighborhood with children and adults of different ethnicities joining in, including a white boy who uses a wheelchair. The bouncy, rhyming text conveys the basic requirements of growing plants from seeds as well as suggesting a wide variety of unusual containers for growing plants. Several leading questions about the plant growth cycle are interspersed within the story, set in large type on full pages that show a seed gradually sprouting and growing into a huge sunflower on the final, wordless page. The joyful text makes growing flowers and vegetables seem easy, showing plants spilling out of alternative containers as well as more traditional raised beds and the concluding, large garden plot. The text focuses on the titular concept of an “anywhere farm,” without differentiating between farms and gardens, but this conceit is part of the amusing, rollicking tone. Detailed, soft-focus illustrations in mixed media use an autumnal palette of muted green, peach, and tan that don’t quite match the buoyant flavor of the cheerful text.
This pleasant look at gardening in a city setting reflects a growing trend. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7499-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
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