Charmingly unassuming, rather like Paul himself.
A hardworking farmer, toiling solo until his well runs dry, is aided by helpful friends and timely rain.
“Paul mows…rakes…digs…[and] draws water” in successive spreads, one per action. After his well fails, the searing sun dominates a double spread, dwarfing Paul’s farmhouse and blackened crops. “But Paul is not alone”—a silhouetted cow, donkey, mole, and bird (all seen in earlier spreads) parade forth, bearing water and implements—“and his friend the rain is never truly far away.” A page turn reveals Paul’s lush, lovely crops—the result of his close observation, intense labor, and a hefty dose of good luck. Abadio’s naïve compositions convey a winsome bemusement that never mocks Paul, a white man who is matter-of-factly portrayed with a large, beaky red nose, tall black hat, and ballooning red overalls. Paul is absent or visually minuscule in some spreads—a nod to the central role that the land plays in the lives of farmers. Gentle humor is visual, as when a succession of Pauls peer from a series of mole holes. Compositions, all done on yellow paper, are striking: Mirroring the spread with the enormous sun is an equally mammoth moon that silhouettes Paul’s tiny house; in another, Paul stands level with the bottom of the dry well looking up, the bucket resting in futility at the bottom of the aquifer.
Charmingly unassuming, rather like Paul himself. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4158-7
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Cheery fun that will leave series fans “egg”-static.
In his latest outing, Bear and his pals go in search of eggs.
Bear “lumbers with his friends through the Strawberry Vale.” Raven finds a nest; climbing up, “The bear finds eggs!”: a refrain that appears throughout. Instead of eating the robin’s eggs, however, Bear leaves a gift of dried berries in the nest for the “soon-to-be-chicks.” Next, the friends find 10 mallard eggs (as bright blue as the robin’s), and Bear leaves sunflower seeds. Then the wail of Mama Meadowlark, whose bright yellow undercarriage strikes a warm golden note, leads them to promise to find her lost eggs. With his friends’ assistance, Bear finds one, and they decide to paint them “so they aren’t lost again.” Another is discovered, painted, and placed in Hare’s basket. After hours of persistent searching, Bear suddenly spots the remaining two eggs “in a small patch of clover.” Before they can return these eggs, the chicks hatch and rejoin their mother. Back at his lair, Bear, with his troupe, is visited by all 17 chicks and the robin, mallard, and meadowlark moms: “And the bear finds friends!” Though this sweet spring tale centers on finding and painting eggs, it makes no overt references to Easter. The soft green and blue acrylics, predictable rhymes, and rolling rhythm make this series installment another low-key natural read-aloud.
Cheery fun that will leave series fans “egg”-static. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781665936552
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
Readers will close this book loving their small part of the world a little more.
This picture book seems to contain everything in the world.
Everything in this story is connected to everything else. An acorn, held by a child, appears on the opening pages: “Within it grows a forest.” Following a spread of trees in a wood, we’re told, “And within that forest / towers an oak tree, tall and grand.” Scientifically minded adults may be reminded of an atom, too small to see but filled with quarks and neutrons and electrons. Later, the child catches a raindrop and starts to imagine where it came from—from “the depths of the sea” to a rain cloud to the child’s hand, and if it had landed back in the ocean, it might have kept traveling to a distant shore. Conti’s illustrations show the child watching that shore through a spyglass. Some of the items in the illustrations are a little frightening, like the rain cloud, painted in the heaviest blues and grays and blacks. But they’re beautiful, too. The fields of grass appear to contain every shade of green. Every item in the book, even a grain of sand, is as beautiful in both its simplicity and complexity. The child and other characters who appear are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Readers will close this book loving their small part of the world a little more. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 9780762479870
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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