ERROL'S GARDEN

Name: ERROL'S GARDEN
Author: Gillian Hibbs
ISBN: 978-1-78628-085-5

by Gillian Hibbs ; illustrated by Gillian Hibbs ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2018

The brief text is upbeat and straightforward, sure to inspire young green thumbs in urban, suburban, and rural dwellings...

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Errol dreams of having a garden of his very own and, with the help of his family and community, creates a beautiful rooftop oasis.

Errol notices that he is pretty good at growing things when he has run out of items around his home to use as planters. He wants to create a “real garden” and thinks about having one “a lot.” When Errol discovers that his apartment building has a rooftop, he realizes he has discovered the perfect place to build a small garden. After researching with his father and sister, he enlists his neighbors to help, and following collaborative planning and gathering donations, everyone in the community helps to build the garden. This charming tale makes for a light and engaging picture book that is early-reader friendly. The bright illustrations are reflective of a loving community, widely diverse in race, ethnicity, age, and ability, that works together to build an urban farm. Errol himself has brown skin and curly black hair, while his father and sister have brown skin and straight black hair. His neighbors include same-sex and interracial couples, a man who uses a wheelchair, and a woman in hijab.

The brief text is upbeat and straightforward, sure to inspire young green thumbs in urban, suburban, and rural dwellings alike. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-78628-085-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Child's Play

Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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COVERED IN ADVENTURES
by Gillian Hibbs ; illustrated by Gillian Hibbs

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TILLY'S STAYCATION
by Gillian Hibbs ; illustrated by Gillian Hibbs

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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)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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THE BIG CHEESE

From the Food Group series

by Jory John ; illustrated by Pete Oswald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2023

From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers.

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A winning wheel of cheddar with braggadocio to match narrates a tale of comeuppance and redemption.

From humble beginnings among kitchen curds living “quiet lives of pasteurization,” the Big Cheese longs to be the best and builds success and renown based on proven skills and dependable results: “I stuck to the things I was good at.” When newcomer Wedge moves to the village of Curds-on-Whey, the Cheese’s star status wobbles and falls. Turns out that quiet, modest Wedge is also multitalented. At the annual Cheese-cathlon, Wedge bests six-time winner Cheese in every event, from the footrace and chess to hat making and bread buttering. A disappointed Cheese throws a full-blown tantrum before arriving at a moment of truth: Self-calming, conscious breathing permits deep relief that losing—even badly—does not result in disaster. A debrief with Wedge “that wasn’t all about me” leads to further realizations: Losing builds empathy for others; obsession with winning obscures “the joy of participating.” The chastened cheddar learns to reserve bragging for lifting up friends, because anyone can be the Big Cheese. More didactic and less pun-rich than previous entries in the Food Group series, this outing nevertheless couples a cheerful refrain with pithy life lessons that hit home. Oswald’s detailed, comical illustrations continue to provide laughs, including a spot with Cheese onstage doing a “CHED” talk.

From curds to riches, from meltdown to uplift—this multicourse romp delivers. (Picture book. 4-8)