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THE TREE TOLD ME

Name: THE TREE TOLD ME
Author: Sophie Lescaut
ISBN: 978-1-4788-7374-7

by Sophie Lescaut ; illustrated by Thanh Portal ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 28, 2021

Disjointed and unremarkable.

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An unidentified narrator imparts wisdom learned from a tree in this French import.

Each spread begins with “The tree told me,” as if the tree is sharing nuggets of wisdom that humans can consider for improving their own lives (“The tree told me / to learn to wait”) or, at the very least, to simply contemplate. The opening statement, “The tree told me in the beginning we are almost nothing,” is accompanied by an image of a green shoot springing forth from an underground seedling. Unfortunately, some of the tree’s tips are vague: A spread in which the tree says “there are many ways” depicts eight birds standing on branches, merely looking in various directions. And some are utterly baffling: “The tree told me / that some things are unacceptable” features animals running in fear while mammoth, pitch-black hands reach toward the ground. The text’s unvarying structure becomes dull, and the tree’s advice lacks any sort of unifying throughline. Birds are depicted with intriguing textures, feather patterns, and colors, but some spreads feature off-kilter perspectives that are visually perplexing: An early spread looking up from the ground is so disorienting that the bird standing next to a tree appears unrealistically huge. Changes in font color and size distract more than they enhance, and the ending (the final piece of wisdom)—“that it takes a lot of time to grow up”— is abrupt. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11.8-by-18.8-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

Disjointed and unremarkable. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: May 28, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-4788-7374-7

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Reycraft Books

Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
PRIVATE BEACH!
by Sophie Lescaut ; illustrated by Romina Martí

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

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...

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
A PERFECT PLACE TO PLAY
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Jim Valeri

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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A BIKE LIKE SERGIO'S

by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2016

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...

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Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.

This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)