by Muriel Tallandier ; illustrated by Mizuho Fujisawa ; translated by Sarah Klinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 14, 2020
An interactive, modern-day The Giving Tree without the creepy self-sacrifice.
A city girl falls in love with a tree and marvels at its wonders.
Susanne looks forward to vacations at her grandparents’ house in the country. On a walk in the forest with her grandmother, Susanne discovers her “big, beautiful tree,” like something out of a fairy tale. Every day, she visits her tree and notices something miraculous and new: the view from the topmost branches, the sound of the wind through the leaves, a family of owls, insects that march along the truck. As she delights in each discovery, leaf-shaped callout boxes in page corners encourage readers to discuss, explore, and interact. (Some boxes present facts, but no sources are cited.) Even when she returns to the city, Susanne thinks often of her beloved tree. The stylized illustrations use a variety of perspectives—close up, bird’s eye, profile—to create a page-turning dynamic as action drives readers from left to right. Solid colors and patterns of the modern world contrast with translucent, tissue-paper–like leaves, placing the emphasis firmly on the natural world. Like the illustrations, Susanne’s detailed first-person narration is tree-centered, leaving little room for character development. Originally published in France, the lyrical text is not always served well by the translation, most notable in the awkward toggling between past and present tenses. All characters appear white.
An interactive, modern-day The Giving Tree without the creepy self-sacrifice. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7331212-3-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Blue Dot Kids Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Share your opinion of this book
by Susan Verde ; illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2016
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of...
An international story tackles a serious global issue with Reynolds’ characteristic visual whimsy.
Gie Gie—aka Princess Gie Gie—lives with her parents in Burkina Faso. In her kingdom under “the African sky, so wild and so close,” she can tame wild dogs with her song and make grass sway, but despite grand attempts, she can neither bring the water closer to home nor make it clean. French words such as “maintenant!” (now!) and “maman” (mother) and local color like the karite tree and shea nuts place the story in a French-speaking African country. Every morning, Gie Gie and her mother perch rings of cloth and large clay pots on their heads and walk miles to the nearest well to fetch murky, brown water. The story is inspired by model Georgie Badiel, who founded the Georgie Badiel Foundation to make clean water accessible to West Africans. The details in Reynolds’ expressive illustrations highlight the beauty of the West African landscape and of Princess Gie Gie, with her cornrowed and beaded hair, but will also help readers understand that everyone needs clean water—from the children of Burkina Faso to the children of Flint, Michigan.
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of potable water. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17258-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
Share your opinion of this book
More by Susan Verde
BOOK REVIEW
by Susan Verde ; illustrated by Juliana Perdomo
BOOK REVIEW
by Susan Verde ; illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
BOOK REVIEW
by Susan Verde ; illustrated by Juliana Perdomo
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
Share your opinion of this book
More by Tish Rabe
BOOK REVIEW
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings
BOOK REVIEW
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.