A NEW HARVEST

Name: A NEW HARVEST
Author: Cristina Expósito Escalona
ISBN: 978-84-18302-32-9

by Cristina Expósito Escalona ; illustrated by Miguel Ángel Díez ; translated by Jon Brokenbrow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 2021

A feel-good, pay-it-forward story about sowing seeds and harvesting harmony.

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Building community supplants the despair Rodrigo feels after a tornado destroys the ranch and home he inherited from his family.

The disaster leaves him devastated, with only a “little savings” and memories of familial love to sustain him. The soil is as cracked and “dry as his soul.” One morning, he awakens in a sunbeam, remembering his father’s encouragement: “You’ve got to keep going, it’s all we can do!” Inspired, Rodrigo digs, uncovering broken tools and signs of soil life. He buys seeds and new tools. With care, plants grow, reinvigorating Rodrigo with hope. Gradually, visitors drop by, and a sharing economy begins: organic produce in exchange for “a few coins, clothes, or other things to help him out.” As the land’s fertility increases, Rodrigo needs helpers and so begins providing opportunities for others. Poignantly, his generosity begets returns as the farm becomes a community: “a place where people in need came for help: a place where they could heal the wounds that nobody could see.” The farm supplies stores, restaurants, and its own farm stand; proceeds enable Rodrigo and friends to build a house for diverse workers and volunteers: “their own home.” Agreeable illustrations depict Rodrigo as a thin young man with light-brown skin, large ears, short, black hair, and triangular eyebrows. Díez uses blues and greens for crops, sky, and clothing, visually reinforcing themes of community and sustainability. This import from Spain publishes simultaneously in the U.S. with its original, Spanish-language edition.

A feel-good, pay-it-forward story about sowing seeds and harvesting harmony. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2021

ISBN: 978-84-18302-32-9

Page Count: 28

Publisher: Cuento de Luz

Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
FIREFLIES
by Roberto Aliaga ; illustrated by Miguel Ángel Díez ; translated by Jon Brokenbrow

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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IMANI'S MOON

by JaNay Brown-Wood ; illustrated by Hazel Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2014

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child...

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Imani endures the insults heaped upon her by the other village children, but she never gives up her dreams.

The Masai girl is tiny compared to the other children, but she is full of imagination and perseverance. Luckily, she has a mother who believes in her and tells her stories that will fuel that imagination. Mama tells her about the moon goddess, Olapa, who wins over the sun god. She tells Imani about Anansi, the trickster spider who vanquishes a larger snake. (Troublingly, the fact that Anansi is a West African figure, not of the Masai, goes unaddressed in both text and author’s note.) Inspired, the tiny girl tries to find new ways to achieve her dream: to touch the moon. One day, after crashing to the ground yet again when her leafy wings fail, she is ready to forget her hopes. That night, she witnesses the adumu, the special warriors’ jumping dance. Imani wakes the next morning, determined to jump to the moon. After jumping all day, she reaches the moon, meets Olapa and receives a special present from the goddess, a small moon rock. Now she becomes the storyteller when she relates her adventure to Mama. The watercolor-and-graphite illustrations have been enhanced digitally, and the night scenes of storytelling and fantasy with their glowing stars and moons have a more powerful impact than the daytime scenes, with their blander colors.

While the blend of folklore, fantasy and realism is certainly far-fetched, Imani, with her winning personality, is a child to be admired. (Picture book. 5-8)