“Time to get up!” says little Edna Lewis one early-spring morning, “I hear the whippoorwill. That means it’s gathering time.” So begins this celebration of one family’s year of harvesting local foods, all lovingly described in a homespun present tense. In springtime, greens and sassafras root; ripening cherries, wild blackberries and peaches (and much more) follow in summer. When school begins, there are apples—for apple butter, cider, applesauce, crisp and pies! Edna’s childhood was preparation for her career as an accomplished chef and author of four cookbooks. Truly ahead of her time, she believed in preparing food that came directly from the fields, fresh and delicious. Interspersed throughout the text are folk sayings and African-American rhymes. Gourley’s sunny, bright watercolors depict the family gathering food and enjoying it at table and in the fresh air. An author’s note describes Lewis’s career and includes a bibliography of her cookbooks followed by five recipes. A mouthwatering morsel that should come with the warning to eat before reading! (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-618-15836-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2008
Trickling, bubbling, swirling, rushing, a river flows down from its mountain beginnings, past peaceful country and bustling city on its way to the sea. Hooper (The Drop in My Drink, 1998, etc.) artfully evokes the water’s changing character as it transforms from “milky-cold / rattling-bold” to a wide, slow “sliding past mudflats / looping through marshes” to the end of its journey. Willey, best known for illustrating Geraldine McCaughrean’s spectacular folk-tale collections, contributes finely detailed scenes crafted in shimmering, intricate blues and greens, capturing mountain’s chill, the bucolic serenity of passing pastures, and a sense of mystery in the water’s shadowy depths. Though Hooper refers to “the cans and cartons / and bits of old wood” being swept along, there’s no direct conservation agenda here (for that, see Debby Atwell’s River, 1999), just appreciation for the river’s beauty and being. (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7636-0792-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2000
Keena Ford’s second-grade class is taking a field trip to the United States Capitol. This good-hearted girl works hard to behave, but her impulsive decisions have a way of backfiring, no matter how hard she tries to do the right thing. In this second book in a series, Keena cuts off one of her braids and later causes a congressman to fall down the stairs. The first-person journal format is a stretch—most second graders can barely write, let alone tell every detail of three days of her life. Children will wonder how Keena can cut one of her “two thick braids” all the way off by pretend-snipping in the air. They will be further confused because the cover art clearly shows Keena with a completely different hairdo on the field trip than the one described. Though a strong African-American heroine is most welcome in chapter books and Keena and her family are likable and realistic, this series needs more polish before Keena writes about her next month in school. (Fiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3264-3
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2009
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