Essentially the novelization of a restaurant coloring place mat.
Young readers explore the many facets of food in this interactive mindfulness journal.
The many colors, tastes, and sizes of fruits and veggies are examined by private chef and food photographer Sokolow, a Jamie Oliver Food Revolution alumna who encourages young readers to slow down when thinking through their food choices. Sokolow focuses on the benefits of freshly grown produce by explaining its farm-to-table journey and suggesting activities such as growing herbs, avocado and potato plants, and leafy greens at home. Cultural and dietary food selection discussions, accompanied by diverse cartoon characters, help build greater understanding and curiosity in burgeoning foodies. As they learn, readers are invited to doodle their own designs between Lowen’s charming illustrations, drawing their idea of “perfect” or “wacky-looking” foods and creating their own fruit or veggie superheroes. Also included are a sustainability word search and composting and recycling tips, showing fresh food’s full journey from seed back to soil. Sokolow gently emphasizes the importance of mindfulness, healthy eating, and enjoying food with family. However, it’s clear that the target audience is made up of economically comfortable families, not children experiencing food insecurity. Mention of food deserts, soup kitchens, and food banks are limited to a single page. And while the USDA does stress the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables, the book may inadvertently make children feel ashamed of eating the frozen and canned options, which are considerably more affordable. That said, it’s very cute and, if purchased in paperback, recyclable.
Essentially the novelization of a restaurant coloring place mat. (Activity book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-30929-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Rodale Kids
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40.
From two Nobel Peace Prize winners, an invitation to look past sadness and loneliness to the joy that surrounds us.
Bobbing in the wake of 2016’s heavyweight Book of Joy (2016), this brief but buoyant address to young readers offers an earnest insight: “If you just focus on the thing that is making / you sad, then the sadness is all you see. / But if you look around, you will / see that joy is everywhere.” López expands the simply delivered proposal in fresh and lyrical ways—beginning with paired scenes of the authors as solitary children growing up in very different circumstances on (as they put it) “opposite sides of the world,” then meeting as young friends bonded by streams of rainbow bunting and going on to share their exuberantly hued joy with a group of dancers diverse in terms of age, race, culture, and locale while urging readers to do the same. Though on the whole this comes off as a bit bland (the banter and hilarity that characterized the authors’ recorded interchanges are absent here) and their advice just to look away from the sad things may seem facile in view of what too many children are inescapably faced with, still, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the world more qualified to deliver such a message than these two. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48423-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
Not exactly evenhanded in ascribing genetic agency but joyous, clever, and inclusive.
Actor and podcaster Rivas offers effervescent affirmation that when it comes to being alive, we are all huge winners.
It all begins with “the biggest race of your life,” depicted in Boroff’s animated, glowing illustrations as a cloud of sperm rendered as thumbprints or thumbprint-shaped blobs with long, wriggly tails zooming toward an egg cell. Being “crafty…quick…smart and a little wild,” one particular “you” got there first, and with a bit of placental protection, “all the forces of the universe cooperated so that you could be here.” Rivas covers the bases, evolution-wise, with separate, allusive references to a heritage measured in “billions of years” and to something “mysterious, immense, and profound” that “had already decided, since the beginning of time, that you would exist.” More importantly, you were wanted, the author affirms. And, being “a champion of champions. Genetically speaking,” you “WERE BORN A WINNER.” The egg’s role doesn’t get much explicit notice in the narrative, but it does in the artwork, which includes schematic but recognizable views of an ovum, a placenta, and several figures with bulging midriffs. Also, on another page, silhouetted couples, including one who uses a wheelchair, dance at a “starting line” (and “there are many starting lines,” Rivas writes).
Not exactly evenhanded in ascribing genetic agency but joyous, clever, and inclusive. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: July 16, 2024
ISBN: 9798986827346
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Wheat Penny Press
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2024
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
