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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An all-day sugar rush, putting the “fun” back into, er, education.
A young visionary describes his ideal school: “Perfectly planned and impeccably clean. / On a scale, 1 to 10, it’s more like 15!”
In keeping with the self-indulgently fanciful lines of If I Built a Car (2005) and If I Built a House (2012), young Jack outlines in Seussian rhyme a shiny, bright, futuristic facility in which students are swept to open-roofed classes in clear tubes, there are no tests but lots of field trips, and art, music, and science are afterthoughts next to the huge and awesome gym, playground, and lunchroom. A robot and lots of cute puppies (including one in a wheeled cart) greet students at the door, robotically made-to-order lunches range from “PB & jelly to squid, lightly seared,” and the library’s books are all animated popups rather than the “everyday regular” sorts. There are no guards to be seen in the spacious hallways—hardly any adults at all, come to that—and the sparse coed student body features light- and dark-skinned figures in roughly equal numbers, a few with Asian features, and one in a wheelchair. Aside from the lack of restrooms, it seems an idyllic environment—at least for dog-loving children who prefer sports and play over quieter pursuits.
An all-day sugar rush, putting the “fun” back into, er, education. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-55291-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet but inessential offering for families who desire a bedtime story with a Christian theme.
A gentle bedtime story written as a prayer lists many reasons to be thankful.
An attractive cover shows the pink-cheeked, white child curled up asleep on a crescent moon, with a cozy home in the background. The story opens with the same child in bed with, probably, an older sibling; the prayer begins: “Dear God.” Appealing double-page spreads in soft, dreamy watercolors show a succession of children of diverse skin tones and hair textures, with loving families, friends, pets, and green spaces for play. The loose illustration style uses a flattened perspective reminiscent of a child’s artwork, with equally childlike static depictions of the characters. This naïve style leads to confusion, as it’s not clear whether the child on the cover reappears throughout in inconsistent portrayals, with hair sometimes redder or curlier or skin tone darker, or whether these figures are all entirely different children. Family relationships are also difficult to define. One particularly puzzling illustration, which may be problematic for some readers, shows the child praying at night in her bed with an adult, possibly male figure also under the covers. The short, rhyming text is a bit singsong, with specific references to God in the repeated thank-you pattern. The words “thank you” and other key phrases are set in larger, purple type, with other phrases unnecessarily set in italics. Despite these small drawbacks, the overall tone is soothing and appreciative, with gratitude and caring for others a clear theme.
A sweet but inessential offering for families who desire a bedtime story with a Christian theme. (Picture book/religion. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4926-4181-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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