An interestingly presented and well-written story of gardening for the young ones, but it’s brought low by its...
Scarlet runner beans planted by a little girl grow in their natural cycle in this picture book.
Unspooling in a modified cumulative rhyme structure—“Green bean. / And freckles and speckles. / Freckles and speckles. / Soon a root and a shoot. // A root and a shoot. / And a sprout peaking (sic) out”—Thomas’ spare words, in both their narrative structure and their story, convey nature’s cycle. An unnamed young white girl, accompanied by her springer spaniel, plants a circle of scarlet runner beans and tends them, hoeing, staking, and protecting them from rabbits and insects. In high summer the beans have formed a teepeelike structure—a perfect enclosure, the girl finds, for summer reading. The natural cycle continues as winter comes and goes, and one dried bean that has fallen off sprouts again in spring. The tale is charming, and the method of delivery works quite well (unfortunate typo aside). What doesn’t work so well are the amateurish illustrations. Where the story is spare and lilting, they are ponderous—not a good match. Additionally, the girl portrayed often looks clunky due to poor representation of perspective, and she appears to be a much older girl by the story’s conclusion. Four pages of additional information at the end of the book include plant life cycles, words to know for children, and activities teachers and parents can initiate.
An interestingly presented and well-written story of gardening for the young ones, but it’s brought low by its illustrations. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58469-543-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dawn Publications
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016
As brilliant as can be.
A sun, a flower, and a lion. They look similar, no?
Introduced in a wordless panel before the title page, the three figures bear at least two shapes in common. They’re also the same combination of warm yellow and (somehow just as warm) white, outlined in thick black line that pops against the muted yellow background. The text, divided into six short chapters, goes on to introduce the figures in isolation: “This is the sun. / Can you see it?” the narrator asks before going on to proclaim that the sun “is as bright as a flower.” When the flower is introduced, it’s compared to a lion. The lion? He isn’t compared to anything but instead smells the flower and warms himself in the sun. In the next chapter, the lion dreams that the flowers are sun-sized cookies. He wakes up hungry and runs home as fast as he can. Can readers spot him on the page? Using a vocabulary of fewer than 60 words and their variants—and a visual vocabulary of even fewer shapes and colors—Henkes creates an impeccably designed story that’s rewarding for toddlers and early readers alike. The repetitive structure and tone call to mind the playful simplicity of Mem Fox and Judy Horacek’s Where Is the Green Sheep? (2004). With imagination at its center, this participatory read-aloud also cleverly introduces the concept of simile (“It looks like a lion”) and metaphor (“The flowers are cookies”).
As brilliant as can be. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-286610-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world.
This reassuring picture book exemplifies how parents throughout the animal kingdom make homes for their offspring.
The narrative is written from the point of view of a parent talking to their child: “If you were a beaver, I would gnaw on trees with my teeth to build a cozy lodge for us to sleep in during the day.” Text appears in big, easy-to-read type, with the name of the creature in boldface. Additional facts about the animal appear in a smaller font, such as: “Beavers have transparent eyelids to help them see under water.” The gathering of land, air, and water animals includes a raven, a flying squirrel, and a sea lion. “Home” might be a nest, a den, or a burrow. One example, of a blue whale who has homes in the north and south (ocean is implied), will help children stretch the concept into feeling at home in the larger world. Illustrations of the habitats have an inviting luminosity. Mature and baby animals are realistically depicted, although facial features appear to have been somewhat softened, perhaps to appeal to young readers. The book ends with the comforting scene of a human parent and child silhouetted in the welcoming lights of the house they approach: “Wherever you may be, you will always have a home with me.”
Instills a sense of well-being in youngsters while encouraging them to explore the natural world. (Informational picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63217-224-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
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