A cheerfully illustrated and alliterative stroll through a child’s garden.
Young children who enjoy bright colors, cartoonlike illustrations and the pleasures of an adult reading to them will enjoy time spent in Molly’s garden. There, they are asked to consider a world filled with bumble bees, blackbirds and butterflies alongside flowers, ladybirds, snails, spiders, trees and worms—before being invited to go outside and explore their own gardens. Each of 10 two-page spreads focuses on one of Molly’s activities, all of which suggest a comfortable interaction with the natural world; whether she is balancing a butterfly in her hands, letting a ladybird land on her finger, stroking a snail’s head or watering flowers, Molly is at home in nature. The author relies on alliteration to draw this world (“Molly bends down to bond with a bumble bee … busy flying between flowers”); while this device may be a useful educational tool that engages young readers, it may prompt adult readers to wonder whether alliteration need sacrifice interest (“Molly turns toward a towering tree. This tree has a trunk that is thick and tall”) or accuracy (a white watering-can pours water over “wilting” flowers that do not appear wilted in the accompanying artwork). The illustrations offer a range of bright colors and shapes; a brighter image on the left side is mirrored by a paler image on the right where the text is located, making the printed words stand out. This may, however, leave readers looking for something more to keep their attention. The graphics are comprised of simple, rounded shapes that may be too short on detail for young readers. The story is also a bit random at times, with no particular rhyme or reason guiding the events that occur in Molly’s garden: Activities that might build a sense of a story—like each interaction with a bird, bug or flower—could have happened in any order. A well-intentioned but slender invitation to explore the natural world through sight and sound.
Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2012
ISBN: 978-1469157818
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Xlibris
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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