A warm tale of passing the love of the family farm from one generation to the next.
A young boy learns about a beloved family farm.
In this sequel to Grandpa’s Tractor (2011), Grandma and Timmy take a sentimental journey to the old farm, now abandoned and in disrepair, where his mother grew up, and Grandma shares stories and notes from her diary while Timmy imagines his mother’s early life. As the pair walk around the farm, they talk about all the chores, such as feeding the pigs—and catching them when they escaped—planting, picking, and selling vegetables, gathering and candling eggs, and shearing sheep. But farm life isn’t all work. Grandma recalls how the family had fun fishing, playing family baseball and board games, watching TV, reading, and visiting the library each week. The trip is a success, and the book closes with Timmy feeling closer to both Grandma and his mother and eager to plant a garden of his own. Full-color digital illustrations have the realistic feel of scrapbook photos—they may have faded a bit, but the important details are in clear focus. In fact, reading the book feels like peering over Grandma’s shoulder as she shares her scrapbook and stories with Timmy. The story is alive with farm life details that young readers will appreciate. Timmy and his extended family present as White. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A warm tale of passing the love of the family farm from one generation to the next. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-63592-583-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Astra Young Readers
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one.
It's hard to believe that a pop-up wasn't the creators' original intention, so seamlessly do moveable parts dovetail into this modern classic's storyline.
In contrast to the tale's 1998 pop -up version, the figures here move on every page, and with an unusually graceful naturalism to boot. From pulling down Big Nutbrown Hare's ears on the opening spread to make sure he's listening to drowsily turning his head to accept a final good-night kiss in a multi-leveled pull-down tableau at the close, all of Little Nutbrown Hare's hops, stretches and small gestures serve the poetically spare text—as do Big Nutbrown's wider, higher responses to his charge's challenges. As readers turn a flap to read Big Nutbrown's "But I love you this much," his arms extend to demonstrate. The emotional connection between the two hares is clearer than ever in Jeram's peaceful, restrained outdoor scenes, which are slightly larger than those in the trade edition, and the closing scene is made even more intimate by hiding the closing line ("I love you right up to the moon—and back") until an inconspicuous flap is opened up.
The book is available in just about every format--but this is the perfect one. (Pop-up picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5378-1
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
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Like its subject: full of bustling life yet peaceful.
Life buzzes in a community garden.
Surrounded by apartment buildings, this city garden gets plenty of human attention, but the book’s stars are the plants and insects. The opening spread shows a black child in a striped shirt sitting in a top-story window; the nearby trees and garden below reveal the beginnings of greenery that signal springtime. From that high-up view, the garden looks quiet—but it’s not. “Sleepy slugs / and garden snails / leave behind their silver trails. / Frantic teams of busy ants / scramble up the stems of plants”; and “In the earth / a single seed / sits beside a millipede. / Worms and termites / dig and toil / moving through the garden soil.” Sicuro zooms in too, showing a robin taller than a half-page; later, close-ups foreground flowers, leaves, and bugs while people (children and adults, a multiracial group) are crucial but secondary, sometimes visible only as feet. Watercolor illustrations with ink and charcoal highlights create a soft, warm, horticulturally damp environment. Scale and perspective are more stylized than literal. McCanna’s superb scansion never misses, incorporating lists of insects and plants (“Lacewings, gnats, / mosquitos, spiders, / dragonflies, and water striders / live among the cattail reeds, / lily pads, and waterweeds”) with description (“Sunlight warms the morning air. / Dewdrops shimmer / here and there”). Readers see more than gardeners do, such as rabbits stealing carrots and lettuce from garden boxes.
Like its subject: full of bustling life yet peaceful. (author’s note) (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-1797-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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