Part gardening how-to, part healthy cookbook, this effort offers budding young gardeners (and their adults) a comprehensive,...
A horticulturalist (from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, no less) and a food writer partner to produce a kid-friendly guide to growing and preparing food.
Their collaboration is packed with all the basic information would-be green thumbs need to start a garden. They’ll learn about the importance of soil health and composting, tools and equipment, as well as wildlife friends and foes. After a brief intro to plant anatomy and reproduction, the book walks kids through the tasks necessary throughout the growing cycle, from sowing and planting, watering and weeding, to, finally, harvesting. Whether gardening in the backyard, in containers or window boxes, or in a community-garden allotment, tips and tricks galore demonstrate how easy it is. Kids can then delight in transforming home-grown produce into delicious meals. Step-by-step growing guides to individual vegetables precede recipes. Learn how to grow tomatoes before making tomato, feta, and basil pizza or peas for pea gnocchi. All the recipes are simple, tasty, and definitely not boring! This book shares a tactic valued by parents in the know—kids are typically actively excited to eat the foods they grow and cook themselves, thus cultivating healthy eating habits. Vibrant photographs featuring culturally diverse youngsters, sprightly decorative illustrations, and a well-organized layout make the book easy to digest and enjoyable to read. In the back, suggestions for growing varieties and a plant glossary take away the guesswork.
Part gardening how-to, part healthy cookbook, this effort offers budding young gardeners (and their adults) a comprehensive, hands-on guide to gardening and cooking. (Nonfiction. 5-12)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58089-817-1
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40.
From two Nobel Peace Prize winners, an invitation to look past sadness and loneliness to the joy that surrounds us.
Bobbing in the wake of 2016’s heavyweight Book of Joy (2016), this brief but buoyant address to young readers offers an earnest insight: “If you just focus on the thing that is making / you sad, then the sadness is all you see. / But if you look around, you will / see that joy is everywhere.” López expands the simply delivered proposal in fresh and lyrical ways—beginning with paired scenes of the authors as solitary children growing up in very different circumstances on (as they put it) “opposite sides of the world,” then meeting as young friends bonded by streams of rainbow bunting and going on to share their exuberantly hued joy with a group of dancers diverse in terms of age, race, culture, and locale while urging readers to do the same. Though on the whole this comes off as a bit bland (the banter and hilarity that characterized the authors’ recorded interchanges are absent here) and their advice just to look away from the sad things may seem facile in view of what too many children are inescapably faced with, still, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the world more qualified to deliver such a message than these two. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48423-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
This introduction to puberty may be particularly helpful for girls looking ahead to that stage.
A growing-up guide for preteen girls.
This puberty-navigation guide covers girls’ bodily changes, body care, health, relationships with family and friends, staying safe, and handling stress. In many cases the author, a registered nurse, has covered the same material as she did in various editions of this title as well as The Boy’s Body Book. This girls’ book skips the topics of sleep and performance-enhancement drugs in favor of a section on eating disorders. As in the boys’ book, controversial subjects are addressed generally and conservatively if at all. She includes a rough diagram of female reproductive organs and tells her young readers about menstruation and visiting a gynecologist but not how babies are made. She talks about having boys as friends, saying “Don’t put pressure on yourself to call any of your close friendships ‘dating.’ ” The strength of this title is its emphasis on good grooming, healthy living habits, and positive relationships. Added for this fourth edition is new material on interacting with adults, personal empowerment, body language, reputations, and “learning disabilities,” helpful information for the growing segment of the preteen population identified with cognitive and social learning differences. Tallardy’s cartoon illustrations show girls and adults of varying ethnicities and provide a cheerful accompaniment.
This introduction to puberty may be particularly helpful for girls looking ahead to that stage. (resources, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-60433-714-3
Page Count: 148
Publisher: Cider Mill Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
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