by Kate Messner ; illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 7, 2017
A magical artistic and informational world that readers will delight in visiting again and again.
The author-illustrator team that brought readers into the garden and under the snow (Over and Under the Snow, 2011, etc.) now takes them on a breathtaking journey beneath the calm waters of a pond.
Though the surface of the water seems calm, it is teeming with life, as a small black boy and his mother discover during an afternoon row. This book is another artistic triumph for Messner and Neal, whose perfect marriage of prose and pictures creates a lush, watery world filled with color and brimming with activity. Each double-page spread, done in a soothing palette of greens and blues, reveals the pond to be a vibrant and rich habitat where fish, amphibians, animals, and birds lay eggs, build nests, store food, and otherwise engage in the cycle of life. Each illustration focuses on a creature that lives either above or below the pond’s surface, and the child protagonist’s sense of wonder is mirrored by the author’s evocative prose. The events of the book occur within the space of one day, and as afternoon fades into evening, the yellows of the flowers and pink of the sky give way to night-blue in an arresting symphony of color. Well-researched backmatter provides inquisitive readers with additional information about the creatures they see.
A magical artistic and informational world that readers will delight in visiting again and again. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4521-4542-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
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by James Dean ; illustrated by James Dean ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 2018
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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by Susan Verde ; illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2016
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of...
An international story tackles a serious global issue with Reynolds’ characteristic visual whimsy.
Gie Gie—aka Princess Gie Gie—lives with her parents in Burkina Faso. In her kingdom under “the African sky, so wild and so close,” she can tame wild dogs with her song and make grass sway, but despite grand attempts, she can neither bring the water closer to home nor make it clean. French words such as “maintenant!” (now!) and “maman” (mother) and local color like the karite tree and shea nuts place the story in a French-speaking African country. Every morning, Gie Gie and her mother perch rings of cloth and large clay pots on their heads and walk miles to the nearest well to fetch murky, brown water. The story is inspired by model Georgie Badiel, who founded the Georgie Badiel Foundation to make clean water accessible to West Africans. The details in Reynolds’ expressive illustrations highlight the beauty of the West African landscape and of Princess Gie Gie, with her cornrowed and beaded hair, but will also help readers understand that everyone needs clean water—from the children of Burkina Faso to the children of Flint, Michigan.
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of potable water. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17258-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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by Susan Verde ; illustrated by Juliana Perdomo
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by Susan Verde ; illustrated by Juliana Perdomo
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