Writing in a series of tanka poems, Weston addresses the difficulty of moving to a new country and the loss of a loved one...
A Japanese girl’s beloved cherry blossoms become a metaphor for the ephemerality of life when her grandmother passes away, her memory still abloom even across the sea in America.
Sakura, whose name means cherry blossom, loves to picnic with her obaachan under the cherry tree. Together they tell stories and eat bento lunches. But when Sakura moves from Japan to the United States, everything becomes unfamiliar—the house, the trees, the school, and the language, whose words “nipped and snapped on her tongue like the tang of pickled plums.” With the help of a new, white friend, Sakura slowly adjusts, until she loses her grandmother and is thrown into grief. When spring arrives and their city’s riverfront is covered in cherry blossoms, Sakura finds herself full of memories and love for her obaachan as she picnics with new friends under the cherry trees. Digital illustrations showcase interesting compositions and good design sensibilities, and Saburi has a unique way of rendering the world. However, the color palette is muddied. The heavy use of complementary colors leads to a muddiness in value and a less appealing environment. Nevertheless, there’s an earnestness that comes from the words and art as Sakura’s tale of intergenerational love shines through.
Writing in a series of tanka poems, Weston addresses the difficulty of moving to a new country and the loss of a loved one with warmth and compassion. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-101-91874-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted...
Reinvention is the name of the game for two blobs of clay.
A blue-eyed gray blob and a brown-eyed brown blob sit side by side, unsure as to what’s going to happen next. The gray anticipates an adventure, while the brown appears apprehensive. A pair of hands descends, and soon, amid a flurry of squishing and prodding and poking and sculpting, a handsome gray wolf and a stately brown owl emerge. The hands disappear, leaving the friends to their own devices. The owl is pleased, but the wolf convinces it that the best is yet to come. An ear pulled here and an extra eye placed there, and before you can shake a carving stick, a spurt of frenetic self-exploration—expressed as a tangled black scribble—reveals a succession of smug hybrid beasts. After all, the opportunity to become a “pig-e-phant” doesn’t come around every day. But the sound of approaching footsteps panics the pair of Picassos. How are they going to “fix [them]selves” on time? Soon a hippopotamus and peacock are staring bug-eyed at a returning pair of astonished hands. The creative naiveté of the “clay mates” is perfectly captured by Petty’s feisty, spot-on dialogue: “This was your idea…and it was a BAD one.” Eldridge’s endearing sculpted images are photographed against the stark white background of an artist’s work table to great effect.
The dynamic interaction between the characters invites readers to take risks, push boundaries, and have a little unscripted fun of their own . (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-316-30311-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
The story’s slight but allows kids to practice identifying and dealing with their own big feelings.
The diverse group of kids from All Are Welcome (2018) this time gathers in a vacant lot with tools in hand to clear the debris and make something new. But therein lies the rub: What should the something new be? While the exact nature of the disagreement is unfortunately not made clear to readers, the big feelings that the children exhibit are very clear (and for readers who need practice reading facial clues, there’s a labeled chart of 15 in the frontmatter). This book’s refrain is “How can I help? / What can we do?” And the answers, spread over several pages and not spelled out in so many words but rather shown in the illustrations, are: talk it through, compromise, and see things from another perspective. As a guide for dealing with feelings and problem-solving, the book is a bit slim and lacks a solid story to hook readers. But, as with its predecessor, its strength is again the diversity on display in its pages. There’s a rainbow of skin tones and hair colors as well as abundant variation in hair texture, several children exhibit visible disabilities, including one child who uses a wheelchair, and there are markers of religious and cultural diversity. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 29.6% of actual size.)
The story’s slight but allows kids to practice identifying and dealing with their own big feelings. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-525-57974-8
Page Count: 42
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
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