This tale about weeds delivers a valuable message but uneven rhymes and images.
A girl discovers that both planted seeds and weeds have their places in a garden in this debut illustrated children’s book.
Beginning with the old nursery rhyme about contrary Mary, Bird describes the frustrations of a girl who wears overalls, sports red braids, and deals with weeds taking over her garden. An adult with matching features (freckled pale skin and red hair) and a wide-brimmed hat tries to convince the girl that the weeds aren’t so bad: “Mary, Mary, please don’t worry / Your garden needs more space. / Can you think of something, / So they all have a place?” After the adult extols the virtues of the weeds, Mary reworks her garden (and her attitude) so that all of the plants have room to grow. The author’s rhymes begin with the pattern of the original nursery rhyme (with a longer third line and extra inset rhymes). But they shift to a more standard stanza, with alternate or paired lines providing the rhyme. The occasional use of British spellings (colours) and advanced vocabulary words (debut, taboo, adieu, and nutrients) may stymie newly independent American readers. A lengthy guide in the back describes folk remedies and the merits of common weeds, many of which are species brought to North America from Europe. Mentions of Irish, Scottish, and English origins offer specific geographic traditions while the general use of Native American implies a single, past culture rather than a rich variety of living traditions. The uncredited mixed-media illustrations feature cartoon humans against a background of realistically painted plants and settings. The flower images, especially in the end pages, are worthy of a field guide while the cartoon drawings of the humans are rough. Mary has a potatolike nose covered in dirt and her eyes are disproportionately oversized. Still, lap readers may enjoy spotting the bee and the snail hidden in every picture.
This tale about weeds delivers a valuable message but uneven rhymes and images.Pub Date: May 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5255-4558-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A humorous, meandering approach to a life lesson about leading every day with benevolence.
To the consternation of the other six days of the week, Sunday quits in protest, tired of being unappreciated for her consistent delivery of a weekly “beautiful free day.”
Sunday’s abrupt decision prompts the others to look for her replacement with an advertisement inviting auditions before the remaining six days. The competition quickly grows increasingly fierce as ideas are broached for DogDay, Big-BurpDay, PieDay, Band-AidDay, and, ridiculously, FirepoleSlidingIntoPoolsOfCottonCandyDay. Amid all this boisterous and frenzied rivalry, a little girl approaches the misunderstood Sunday with a small plant to say thank you and to suggest “simply a nice day. A day when people can show more kindness to each other.” The child’s humble gratitude is enough for Sunday to return to her important weekly position and to prompt all the days to value kindness as the key to each day’s possibilities. Bright art captures the mania, with cotton-candy hues representing each of the anthropomorphic days. Though undeniably comical as it unfolds in busy cartoon illustrations and speech balloons, the drawn-out, nonsensical, and unexpected course the narrative takes may be a stretch for youngsters who cannot always distinguish among days. Kindness as the ingredient for achieving a harmonious week is nevertheless a valuable message, however circuitously expressed. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 50% of actual size.)
A humorous, meandering approach to a life lesson about leading every day with benevolence. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-525-55424-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
A stellar artistic vision of the infinite power of intergenerational love.
Uma’s struggle with the meaning of infinity offers readers a playful, gorgeous introduction to the mathematical concept.
When little Uma gazes at the vast night sky and wonders how many stars are there, she asks, “How could I even think about something as big as infinity?” When friends, her grandmother, the school cook and the music teacher offer creative ways of describing infinity, Uma ends up feeling rather overwhelmed. She then realizes that her pondering has made her forget about the new red shoes she’d been so excited about right before her stargazing musings began. Worse yet—no one had noticed her fancy new footwear that day! But after school, Grandma tells her “Uma, I meant to tell you this morning—those are the most beautiful shoes I have ever seen!” and in a joyous spread, Uma glories, “…my love for her was as big as infinity.” Then Uma and her grandmother go outside to look at the sky, and “[s]nuggled up to Grandma, the sky didn’t seem so huge and cold anymore. Now it was more like a sparkly blanket, covering us both.” While Hosford’s text deftly evokes the child’s voice, Swiatkowska’s expressive, lush illustrations steal the show, providing infinite opportunities for readers to examine each and every spread.
A stellar artistic vision of the infinite power of intergenerational love. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7613-6726-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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