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WHO IS IN THE GARDEN?

Rosenberry's three recent books (Vera Runs Away, 2000, etc.) about an irrepressible little girl named Vera have an undeniable charm with a unique main character, believable illustrations, and strong plot lines. Unfortunately, Vera isn't present in this latest offering, replaced by a nameless little boy who lacks Vera's spunk, and in fact, lacks much personality at all. The boy tours his backyard garden, observing and describing ordinary animals and insects camouflaged in their own particular environments. On the last double-page spread (and on the cover), the boy himself is camouflaged in a pole tent of green bean vines, providing a mildly surprising answer to the question posed in the title. The uninspired text plods through the garden on flat feet, alternating between straightforward descriptions of the garden inhabitants and rather confusing second-person commands to continue exploring in different ways. Rosenberry plays with unusual perspectives in her illustrations, which result in the boy sometimes looking two feet tall and two years old. Her watercolors of flora and fauna are pretty, but the little boy's age, facial features, and hair are not uniform throughout the book. The boy also looks rather bored, an effect that is likely to be shared by children listening to this story. Wait for Vera's next adventure. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: March 15, 2001

ISBN: 0-8234-1529-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Holiday House

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2001

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WHEN WE GO WALKING

A tempting invitation to turn any walk into an equally fruitful ramble, even if the treasures are gathered only by eye...

Family strolls down Rambling Road in every season turn into treasure hunts for 5-year-old Wendy.

And what treasures she finds! As other family members simply point out animals, a plane passing overhead and other sights (Abe the toddler is big on colors), everything else—from a wagon wheel to a broken kite, from loose letters and numbers to a pencil that works and a clock that doesn’t—goes in her collecting bag. The trash and litter are scrupulously brought to the dump, but what will she do with all the rest? When winter snows bring a (temporary) stop to outdoor walks, she assembles a “Rambling Road” in her room, inviting her appreciative clan in for a visit. Muted colors and smiling, softly rounded figures add cozy notes to Brooker’s paint-and–photo-collage illustrations. Viewers who linger over each scene will be rewarded with small birds, flowers and other background details, plus all sorts of enticing found objects.

A tempting invitation to turn any walk into an equally fruitful ramble, even if the treasures are gathered only by eye rather than by hand. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: April 23, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-4778-1648-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Amazon Children's Publishing

Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2013

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THE HOLE

A one-trick pony—and the trick’s not all that great.

The Norwegian illustrator of My Father’s Arms Are a Boat (2013) pokes a pencil-sized hole through both covers and all 64 pages of this outing—but then doesn’t do much with it.

In very plain, nearly wordless line drawings with pale monochromatic highlights, Torseter depicts a cartoon figure (a lanky creature with a face like a hippo) who spots the hole in the wall of his new apartment. He chases it as it “moves” through various rooms and then plunks it in a box. He proceeds to “carry” it through a long sequence of city scenes—it does duty as sign lettering, wheels, eyes, lights and other items—to a laboratory, where it’s shoved into a drawer. The figure then walks obliviously home as the hole follows through the sky and ends up back in its original position on the apartment wall. Though the hole may take a moment to spot in some scenes, it is too small to have any significant visual impact. Nor, in contrast to the one in Hervé Tullet’s The Book with a Hole (2011) and other similarly pierced titles, is it placed or decorated in ways that will spark imaginative play or lead viewers to fresh considerations of their own surroundings.

A one-trick pony—and the trick’s not all that great. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2013

ISBN: 978-1-59270-143-8

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books

Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2013

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