Worthy of theme and equally pleasing to the eye and the spirit.
A child newly arrived from the country is dismayed to discover that the pocket park next to her urban building is, despite its name, lacking butterflies.
What to do? Even the butterflies that she, with help from neighboring children, captures and brings to the sterile-looking park flutter away immediately…except for one, which leads her and a growing group of city residents through the streets to a small patch of flowers. Of course! The next day everyone shows up at the park with “boots and gnomes and wagons”—and in time, as revealed in a climactic double gatefold bedizened with blooms as well as winged and human visitors, the butterflies come. Centered on the park’s elaborate art nouveau gateway, MacKay’s lyrical paper collage and diorama constructs feature layered details and out-of-focus backgrounds for a sense of depth. Brightly patterned butterflies, delicate flowers, and human figures pose like gracefully off-balance dancers. As the atmosphere is, overall, ethereal (underscored by occasional close-ups of the girl’s elfin features and abstracted gaze), this is more a visually poetic tale about bringing nature to the city than a practical blueprint for creating a crowd-sourced flower garden. Still, like Kevin Henkes’ My Garden (2010), it may spur young readers to green dreams of their own—and the jacket does offer a labeled gallery of butterfly-attracting blooms.
Worthy of theme and equally pleasing to the eye and the spirit. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7624-5339-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
Another empowering outing led by a dynamic young role model.
The third title in the Ambitious Girl series finds young Maya wanting accomplished women to get their due.
On a school trip to Washington, D.C., brown-skinned, bubble-braided Maya is full of questions, among them “How many representatives are there?” and, while checking out the statues and monuments, “Where are all the women?” Maya’s teacher tells her that they’ve seen all the “popular” statues and monuments. Maya is as dogged (“But what about Eleanor Roosevelt? Or Mary McLeod Bethune?”) as her teacher is dismissive: “Those aren’t on my list.” (Maya’s teacher follows the same list every trip.) Back at home, Maya is newly awakened to the lack of female representation in her orbit—she notices that streets and “even her own school” are named for men. Is there anything she can do about this? Maya’s teacher’s cluelessness feels a bit implausible, more like a plot device to steer the story in the right direction, but Maya’s righteous indignation is believable, and her corresponding activism will energize readers. Valdez gets into the spirit of things with her invigorating digital art: Maya and her multiethnic classmates and neighbors are colorful dressers with smiling faces, which fosters a sense that wherever Maya goes, a warm and ebullient community is there for her.
Another empowering outing led by a dynamic young role model. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9780316561341
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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