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CHERRY BLOSSOM AND PAPER PLANES

Name: CHERRY BLOSSOM AND PAPER PLANES
Author: Jef Aerts
ISBN: 978-178250-561-7

by Jef Aerts ; illustrated by Sanne te Loo ; translated by Polly Lawson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 21, 2020

Memorable and visually rich.

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A deep connection between friends blossoms after winter.

Adin and Dina live on a fruit farm, blonde, white Dina “at the top of the hill” and black-haired, brown-skinned Adin, whose mother works picking fruit, “at the bottom.” So close that each “knew what the other one was thinking,” they share a love of cherries, climbing into the trees to eat the fruit and saving the pits to plant around the village. Te Loo’s gouache-and-pen illustrations are gentle, filled with greens and yellows that are echoed in the village and, later, more subtly, in the city Adin and his mother move to. Each double-page spread shows a world that is wide yet comfortably familiar. When Adin and his mother leave, the sense of loss is conveyed simply. Dina presents Adin with a farewell bag of cherry pits, “self-picked and self-spat out.” When she visits him in the city Dina is momentarily without words seeing Adin, hair combed, in “smart new clothes.” But Adin has been tossing cherry pits from his apartment balcony and shows Dina how he’s found a way to send the seeds even farther via paper plane. When spring arrives the cherry trees seem to light a path between the two friends. Aerts’ story, translated from the Dutch, resonates honestly and clearly with reassurance that friendship can weather changes and bridge distances.

Memorable and visually rich. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2020

ISBN: 978-178250-561-7

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Floris

Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019

Categories:

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

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THE BLUE WINGS
by Jef Aerts ; illustrated by Martijn van der Linden ; translated by Laura Watkinson

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HEDGEHOGS DON'T WEAR UNDERWEAR

by Marissa Valdez ; illustrated by Marissa Valdez ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2025

Sure to have little ones giggling.

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Jacques is a hedgehog with a big secret: “I wear real, bona fide underwear.”

Our narrator received a mysterious package one day; an illustration shows a pair of underwear tied to a balloon with a note “from the Universe” floating down into Jacques’ burrow. Hedgehogs don’t wear underwear, however. Will Jacques be shunned? Jacques worries but comes to a decision: “I have to wear them. When I do I feel special.” Determined, Jacques, who’s been invited to a party, makes a dramatic entrance, with undies in hand. Jacques’ declaration (“I WEAR UNDERWEAR”) is met with remarks of dismay, before another hedgehog opens up about similar fears and shows off a pair of cowboy boots. More hedgehogs introduce themselves with their own confessions. The story ends with Jacques unveiling a painting of the underwear in a gallery filled with hedgehogs wearing all sorts of attire. Though the book is simple in plot, characters, and setting, it wins in its balance of bathroom humor, dramatic storytelling, and celebrations of individual expression. French words are peppered throughout, adding to the fun without detracting from the story for those unfamiliar with the language. The cartoonish illustrations brim with fun; Valdez relies heavily on geometric shapes (triangle noses for the hedgehogs; huge circles for their eyes). Details such as speech bubbles and recurring turtle and snake characters contribute to the outlandish humor.

Sure to have little ones giggling. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: April 1, 2025

ISBN: 9781250814388

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Roaring Brook Press

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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MAYA'S BIG QUESTION
by Meena Harris ; illustrated by Marissa Valdez

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WHO'S IN CHARGE?
by Stephanie Allain & Jenny Klion ; illustrated by Marissa Valdez

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HATTIE HARMONY: OPENING NIGHT
by Elizabeth Olsen & Robbie Arnett ; illustrated by Marissa Valdez

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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)