Clear, age-appropriate, character-building themes about caring, loss, and change.
A seedling learns life lessons as it grows into a tree in Cranston’s children’s book.
In this simple but thoughtful story, a seedling dreams of becoming a big oak tree—if only he can grow enough to pass the “Seed to Tree” ceremony that makes it official. His mentor Grandpa Oakey, offering wisdom and encouragement, reassures the seedling when he faces challenges. During a dramatic storm, when “Lightning flashes and the sky screams, ‘BOOM, BOOM, BOOM,’” Grandpa Oakey yells, “‘Stay rooted, little one,’” as the seedling fights to survive. This phrase will become especially meaningful when the seedling realizes it is his turn to take on the role of mentor. Wilting during a hot summer in the forest, the seedling wonders how he can “become a tree with a broken limb and droopy leaves”; Grandpa Oakley’s kind owl friends fly in buckets of water to help. With a dash of whimsy, Cranston teaches young readers about developing inner strength, respect, and empathy for others, and loss is presented as part of the natural cycle of life. Alternating with pages of text set against a light blue background, full-page, colorful digital illustrations offer playful and dramatic visual touches, including the trees’ expressive faces; whirls of heavy wind and jagged lightning bolts; and a possum, squirrels, and an earthworm helping the seedling in his “Seed to Tree” ceremony. (The book’s limited real-life plant lore includes the seedling’s eventual name, “Dendro,” which is inspired by Grandpa Oakey’s explanation of “dendrochronology,” the process of determining a tree’s age by counting its rings after it dies.) The text includes a “Discussion Questions” section that young readers can ponder or adults can use as conversation starters to engage children in expressing how they relate to aspects of Dendro’s experiences: “Dendro looked up to Grandpa Oakey. Who do you look up to, and why?”
Clear, age-appropriate, character-building themes about caring, loss, and change.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2024
ISBN: 9798991499323
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts.
In this latest slice in the Food Group series, Humble Pie learns to stand up to a busy friend who’s taking advantage of his pal’s hard work on the sidelines.
Jake the Cake and Humble Pie are good friends. Where Pie is content to toil in the background, Jake happily shines in the spotlight. Alert readers will notice that Pie’s always right there, too, getting A-pluses and skiing expertly just behind—while also doing the support work that keeps every school and social project humming. “Fact: Nobody notices pie when there’s cake nearby!” When the two friends pair up for a science project, things begin well. But when the overcommitted Jake makes excuse after excuse, showing up late or not at all, a panicked Pie realizes that they won’t finish in time. When Jake finally shows up on the night before the project’s due, Pie courageously confronts him. “And for once, I wasn’t going to sugarcoat it.” The friends talk it out and collaborate through the night for the project’s successful presentation in class the next day. John and Oswald’s winning recipe—plentiful puns and delightful visual jokes—has yielded another treat here. The narration does skew didactic as it wraps up: “There’s nothing wrong with having a tough conversation, asking for help, or making sure you’re being treated fairly.” But it’s all good fun, in service of some gentle lessons about social-emotional development.
A flavorful call to action sure to spur young introverts. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780063469730
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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