Accessible and familiar, this series opener should appeal to relatively new readers of chapter books.
A community garden grows new friendships.
Starting third grade in a new school in urban Chicago, Anna misses her old life. Outside her school window there used to be green; now her view is gray. Her mother used to make family meals with fresh vegetables from their garden; now she’s cooking professionally, and it’s her father who makes dinner, using canned vegetables from the store. Once part of a trio of best friends, she can’t see anyone in her new class who looks welcoming. But when a school assignment matches her up with Kaya, whose abuela is an enthusiastic gardener, and Reed, who loves to dig in the dirt, they bond over the idea of forming a gardening club. Their need for an adult sponsor adds some suspense, but this hurdle is easily overcome. The appearance of garden-destroying raccoons adds humor. This comfortable school-and-friendship story is firmly set in the present day; Anna’s mother joins the family via computer video chat at dinner. The 8-year-old has believable worries and appropriate hesitations as she negotiates these big changes and the beginning stages of new friendships. The finished book will include black-and-white illustrations, not seen. The Friendship Garden series will continue with a companion book, Pumpkin Spice (2015).
Accessible and familiar, this series opener should appeal to relatively new readers of chapter books. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3906-0
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
A floral fantasia for casual browsers as well as budding botanists.
Spirited illustrations brighten a large-format introduction to flowers and their pollinators.
Showing a less Eurocentric outlook than in his Big Book of Birds (2019), Zommer employs agile brushwork and a fondness for graceful lines and bright colors to bring to life bustling bouquets from a range of habitats, from rainforest to desert. Often switching from horizontal to vertical orientations, the topical spreads progress from overviews of major floral families and broad looks at plant anatomy and reproduction to close-ups of select flora—roses and tulips to Venus flytraps and stinking flowers. The book then closes with a shoutout to the conservators and other workers at Kew Gardens (this is a British import) and quick suggestions for young balcony or windowsill gardeners. In most of the low-angled scenes, fancifully drawn avian or insect pollinators with human eyes hover around all the large, luscious blooms, as do one- or two-sentence comments that generally add cogent observations or insights: “All parts of the deadly nightshade plant contain poison. It has been used to poison famous emperors, kings and warriors throughout history.” (Confusingly for the audience, the accurate but limited assertion that bees “often visit blue or purple flowers” appears to be contradicted by an adjacent view of several zeroing in on a yellow toadflax.) Human figures, or, in one scene, hands, are depicted in a variety of sizes, shapes, and skin colors.
A floral fantasia for casual browsers as well as budding botanists. (glossary, index) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-500-65199-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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