by Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton ; illustrated by Kathryn Mitter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2017
Readers with maples get ready: kids are sure to want to try their hands at boiling their own syrup.
A group of family and friends performs the chores in the sugar bush that lead to fresh maple syrup.
It’s not just collecting sap and boiling it: bottles must be sterilized, wood gathered and stacked, the sugar content of the boiling syrup monitored, and the finished syrup filtered and bottled. As young Kelsey follows her father around the wood, it’s clear this isn’t her first exposure to this northeastern spring ritual, though this is belied by didactic and expository dialogue, as when Daddy explains how the trees have stored sugar over the winter. Kelsey’s chores are kid-appropriate: hammering spiles, hanging buckets, stacking and carrying wood, and curiously peeking and asking about the syrup’s readiness as it boils. The boiling goes on all night and into the next morning, when the family enjoys a maple syrup–centered breakfast while waiting for the sap buckets to fill again. Mitter’s illustrations play up the camaraderie of working together. Skin tones range from Kelsey’s own white skin to light and dark browns in this multiracial gathering. While the tractor and single storage tank indicate that this is not a large-scale operation, the evaporator and dedicated sugar shack mean this isn’t just a hobby, either. The final page includes more facts about maple syrup.
Readers with maples get ready: kids are sure to want to try their hands at boiling their own syrup. (Picture book. 3-9)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8075-7943-5
Page Count: 37
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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by Chloe Perkins ; illustrated by Sandra Equihua ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2016
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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adapted by Hannah Eliot ; illustrated by Nivea Ortiz
by Chloe Perkins ; illustrated by Dinara Mirtalipova
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by Carson Ellis ; illustrated by Carson Ellis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 24, 2015
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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