bookshelf

THANK YOU, GARDEN

Name: THANK YOU, GARDEN
Author: Liz Garton Scanlon
ISBN: 978-1-4814-0350-4

by Liz Garton Scanlon ; illustrated by Simone Shin ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2020

Joining a bumper crop of gardening titles, this suffices without standing out.

bookshelf

A diverse, intergenerational community works together in an urban garden.

Scanlon’s spare, rhyming text reads like an upbeat playground chant: “Garden ready, / garden new // Garden so much / work to do!” Verses cheerfully acknowledge the garden’s denizens—humans, flora, and fauna—as well as the chores and patience that yield the harvest. Shin’s flat, minimalist paintings depict four square raised beds with a red picnic table at their center. Stylized plants, some identifiable, most not, populate the plots rather primly, with lots of soil in between; only the tomatoes vine and twine with genuine exuberance as days pass. Children work, but the littlest two primarily play—with small vehicles, water, mud, and the garden’s critters. Though many skin tones are represented among the seven gardeners, facial features are rudimentary: black dots for eyes, red triangular noses, black crescents and triangles for mouths. Outfits change throughout, adding interest, and readers can spot a toy garden gnome that appears frequently. As the group prepares to gather at the table for a big salad, veggies, and luscious strawberries, Scanlon closes with lines of metaphor and gratitude: “Garden growing like a child, / rosy, / leggy, / fresh, and wild— // Wild in this muddy mess, / garden, thank you…. // Garden, yes!”

Joining a bumper crop of gardening titles, this suffices without standing out. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: March 3, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-4814-0350-4

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
BIBSY CROSS AND THE BAD APPLE
by Liz Garton Scanlon ; illustrated by Dung Ho

- BOOK REVIEW
BIBSY CROSS AND THE BIKE-A-THON
by Liz Garton Scanlon ; illustrated by Dung Ho

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERYONE STARTS SMALL
by Liz Garton Scanlon ; illustrated by Dominique Ramsey

bookshelf

SO MUCH SNOW

by Kristen Schroeder ; illustrated by Sarah Jacoby ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 25, 2022

Bursting with appeal factors for kids, this charming book is perfect for a winter (or spring!) storytime.

bookshelf

A series of animals, from smallest to largest, enjoy a week of snowfall, then welcome spring as the snow melts away.

On Monday, a mouse welcomes a few flakes of snow that resemble dandelion puffs. On each subsequent day, the snow accumulates—described in a poetic two-word alliterative phrase—and an animal wonders, “How high will it go?” By the time Sunday arrives, only a moose’s antler is visible through the snow (“When will it go?”). Sunshine then begins to melt the snow, with each animal reappearing in the reverse order they were initially presented, and each page has more color than the next, culminating in spring wildflowers. All the animals—mouse, rabbit, fox, wolf, deer, bear, and moose—revel in the spring weather, their body language and expressions playful and engaging. “But wait!” Another snowflake drifts down, and on the final spread, Bear stands to greet another snowfall. There is much to love here; patterned language, animals, and seasonal surprises combine for a sure hit. Even the back cover is cleverly designed, with each animal’s ears (or antlers) poking out of a mountain of snow. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Bursting with appeal factors for kids, this charming book is perfect for a winter (or spring!) storytime. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-593-30820-2

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Random House Studio

Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
ALIEN TOMATO
by Kristen Schroeder ; illustrated by Mette Engell

bookshelf

PINK IS FOR BOYS

by Robb Pearlman ; illustrated by Eda Kaban ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 5, 2018

In this picture book, pink may be for boys, but colors are still not quite for everyone.

bookshelf

Pink, blue, yellow, and orange—all colors that are for boys, girls, popsicles, and unicorns.

With simple text and vibrant illustrations of racially diverse children playing together, this book introduces 10 colors “for boys. And girls.” For each new color, Pearlman shares an example of where to find the color: on sports uniforms, crowns, race cars, and teddy bears. Each color is presented in simple, repetitive text on verso (alternating which gender as specified first) with a vignette on recto and then on the next, full-bleed double-page spread. Kaban’s illustrations of children dancing, running, and flying on winged unicorns add an element of liveliness to keep the repetition from turning stale. Colored type that corresponds with the name of each introduced color encourages young readers to participate in the story. Although the book shares the message that “all colors are for everyone,” the lead-up to this conclusion perpetuates the notion that gender is binary. The statement that “PINK [or blue, yellow, etc.] is for boys. And girls” leaves out anyone who might not fit those categories until the end. Even the examples for pink and blue reinforce stereotypical associations for the colors, since pink is for “bows on fancy clothes” and blue is for “uniforms on a team.” For a book that aims at inclusiveness, this one misses the bull’s-eye.

In this picture book, pink may be for boys, but colors are still not quite for everyone. (Picture book. 3-5)