An ode to solitude and nature, this picture book provides comforting certitude in current times of uncertainty.
A child and a cat experience solace, joy, and wonder while exploring the natural world.
Starting inside a country house and then venturing out into a snowy landscape, a child with straight, black hair and pale skin and a playful cat observe and reflect upon the simple, ever evolving pleasures of the natural world. Eyes can behold mischievous shadows created by the sun, ears can hear the stories carried in the wind, tongues can taste soft, sweet clouds, and best of all, there’s the hopeful promise of spring in the buds on the shivering cherry-tree branches. Each of the four parts of the poetic, first-person narrative is a bite-sized reminder that even scary or dismal things, like wind that howls like wolves or icy, sharp snowflakes, contain hope and joy. Visual and textual motifs are woven throughout, building to the reassuring and gratifying conclusion featuring the child and cat amid a shower of cherry blossoms. There’s comfort in steady, sure things, like the constant presence of the sun and the cyclical nature of the seasons. Textured canvases overlaid with soft pastels and cool earth tones create a dreamy, tranquil atmosphere, mirroring the quiet wonder of the text. Compositions are grounded by expertly placed shapes and lines, moving the eye through the scene in a peaceful, steady manner. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.9-by-21.2-inch double-page spreads viewed at 15.4% of actual size.)
An ode to solitude and nature, this picture book provides comforting certitude in current times of uncertainty. (Picture book. 3-9)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-77306-220-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
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A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
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