Debut author Yap-Stewart’s picture book, featuring paintings by Prytula (Happy Papas, 2018), explores a friendship between two very different plants.
A sprig of moss and a sapling are best friends who live next to each other on “an old forgotten trail on Storm King Mountain.” As time goes by, Little Tree grows much taller than Little Moss, becoming Big Tree. Still, the two plants keep their friendship intact. With the help of some animal pals, they exchange daily letters and share interesting sights they see. When a winter storm hits, though, Big Tree is knocked to the ground. After it complains of the cold, Little Moss promises to cover it, sheltering it from winter’s chill. Yap-Stewart’s story is a sweet and simple one. The text is easy to read but nicely lyrical: “Then one day, a rumble and crash. A winter storm was brewing.” However, the line “They tried to untangle the glowing Morse Code of the fireflies” may go over youngsters’ heads. Another potentially perplexing element is the fact that although Little Moss and Little/Big Tree laugh, write letters, and talk, the accompanying pictures don’t portray them anthropomorphically. Still, Prytula’s painted illustrations are fantastic, rendering realistic, incredibly detailed nature scenes with swirls of color and texture. The animal illustrations emphasize the text’s emotive elements.
A thoughtful and beautifully illustrated nature story.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-692-18690-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Pebble and Moon Publishing LLC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
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A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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