Bess's Magical Garden

Name: Bess's Magical Garden
Author: M.E. Hembroff
ISBN: 978-1-4602-6803-2

by M.E. Hembroff ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 21, 2015

While it may not challenge young readers, this pleasant story provides an enjoyable country town and friendly characters.

bookshelf

A girl discovers a mystery to solve when clues appear in her garden in this middle-grade historical fiction tale.

When Bess and her mother move to the small town of Pineview, all the young girl wants is her cousin Megan. But Megan lives in an apartment building back home, and Bess needs to live in the country for her health. Bess, who has polio, walks with a crutch and deals with the recent loss of her father in an accident. Her mother arranges for Mrs. O’Toole to stay with them in their new residence. When Bess first sees the overgrown garden behind her home, a flash of orange catches her eye. At the general store, the owner gives Bess an old book about gardening, inspiring her to help repair the garden. The orange flash she saw turns out to be a friendly kitty, and soon she meets Josie Poe, a little girl who lives nearby. Together with the help of Mrs. O’Toole and Bess’ mother, the garden begins to return to its wondrous state. Bess and Josie begin to find strange objects—a tin box, a spoon that the cat discovers—but they’re stumped until Bess’ neighbors tell her about the girl who lived there before. A secret map in the tin box inspires Bess to solve the mystery of the garden once and for all, bringing her family and new friends together. Warmth and comfort color the tale, with descriptions of flowers and fresh rhubarb muffins, picnic baskets and thick slices of homemade bread. Many chapters include letters to Megan from Bess or Bess’ diary entries, although they don’t always share the heroine’s interior world the way they could. By the narrative’s end, Bess can walk without her crutch, but the storyline of her relationship to her polio remains largely underdeveloped. The riddle of the garden slowly comes together, featuring more mystery than magic. But the ultimate message that Bess finds when the map reveals its secrets fits the hopeful tone of the book.

While it may not challenge young readers, this pleasant story provides an enjoyable country town and friendly characters.

Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-4602-6803-2

Page Count: 90

Publisher: FriesenPress

Review Posted Online: May 12, 2016

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

bookshelf

TALES FOR VERY PICKY EATERS

by Josh Schneider & illustrated by Josh Schneider ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2011

bookshelf

Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)

Pub Date: May 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Clarion Books

Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
ULTRABOT'S FIRST PLAYDATE
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

- BOOK REVIEW
KID AMAZING VS. THE BLOB
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERYBODY SLEEPS (BUT NOT FRED)
by Josh Schneider ; illustrated by Josh Schneider

bookshelf

ABIYOYO RETURNS

by Pete Seeger & Paul Dubois Jacobs & illustrated by Michael Hays ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001

bookshelf

The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)