HICKORY

Name: HICKORY
Author: Palmer Brown
ISBN: 978-1-59017-627-6

by Palmer Brown illustrated by Palmer Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 6, 1978

The wistfulness that's Palmer Brown's—with a twist, here, of E. B. White—and some characteristically winsome details (like...

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Palmer Brown's first book in 20 years looks and sounds—and sometimes resounds—like Cheerful (1957), though the situation and its development are less inspired (remember churchmouse Cheerful singing "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John") and the illustrations accompany rather than balance the text—which in any case has less intriguing pictorial possibilities.

Hickory, Dickory, and Dock live with their parents in a farmhouse (you-guessed-it) clock—now and again tripping the farmer's wife's mousetraps for fun—until Hickory, biggest and boldest of the three, yields to the field-mice's siren song. "Each blade of grass you pull has a sweet white nibble at the base," they tell him, "each honeysuckle flower a drop of nectar." So, promising his mother to settle in the upper meadow ("because she could see it from the corner of the stairway window"), Hickory departs. "Time is going, / Never staying, / Always flowing, Ever saying: / Gone!" his father recites as the hour strikes. And it is this motif that hovers over Hickory's subsequent tender friendship with grasshopper Hop—whose own song ends, he's crushed to discover, with warning of her death when cold weather comes. He'll take her off south, Hickory determines; but even as they sing their songs "each a line in turn," Hickory shivers . . . and all unsaid is said.

The wistfulness that's Palmer Brown's—with a twist, here, of E. B. White—and some characteristically winsome details (like the pickle jar that serves as Hickory's sun parlor) give this a quiet appeal however less than memorable it may be . (Fantasy. 6-9)

Pub Date: Sept. 6, 1978

ISBN: 978-1-59017-627-6

Page Count: 56

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: April 16, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1978

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
BEYOND THE PAWPAW TREES
by Palmer Brown illustrated by Palmer Brown

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ADA TWIST AND THE PERILOUS PANTS

From the Questioneers series , Vol. 2

by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2019

Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.

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Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.

Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.

Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)

Pub Date: April 16, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9

Page Count: 144

Publisher: Amulet/Abrams

Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
BILLIE JEAN PEET, ATHLETE
by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts

- BOOK REVIEW
LILA GREER, TEACHER OF THE YEAR
by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts

- BOOK REVIEW
AARON SLATER, ILLUSTRATOR
by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts

- BOOK REVIEW
BILLIE JEAN PEET, ATHLETE
by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts

- BOOK REVIEW
LILA GREER, TEACHER OF THE YEAR
by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts

- BOOK REVIEW
AARON SLATER, ILLUSTRATOR
by Andrea Beaty ; illustrated by David Roberts

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GROWING HOME

by Beth Ferry ; illustrated by Eric Fan & Terry Fan ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 27, 2025

Charming.

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An assortment of unusual characters form friendships and help each other become their best selves.

Mr. and Mrs. Tupper, who live at Number 3 Ramshorn Drive, are antiquarians. Their daughter, Jillian, loves and cares for a plant named Ivy, who has “three speckles on each leaf and three letters in her name.” Toasty, the grumpy goldfish, lives in an octagonal tank and wishes he were Jillian’s favorite; when Arthur the spider arrives inside an antique desk, he brings wisdom and insight. Ollie the violet plant, Louise the bee, and Sunny the canary each arrive with their own quirks and problems to solve. Each character has a distinct personality and perspective; sometimes they clash, but more often they learn to empathize, see each other’s points of view, and work to help one another. They also help the Tupper family with bills and a burglar. The Fan brothers’ soft-edged, old-fashioned, black-and-white illustrations depict Toasty and Arthur with tiny hats; Ivy and Ollie have facial expressions on their plant pots. The Tuppers have paper-white skin and dark hair. The story comes together like a recipe: Simple ingredients combine, transform, and rise into something wonderful. In its matter-of-fact wisdom, rich vocabulary (often defined within the text), hint of magic, and empathetic nonhuman characters who solve problems in creative ways, this delightful work is reminiscent of Ferris by Kate DiCamillo, Our Friend Hedgehog by Lauren Castillo, and Ivy Lost and Found by Cynthia Lord and Stephanie Graegin.

Charming. (Fiction. 6-9)