BABY PALM

A palm tree learns that letting go of things he no longer needs can be helpful to others in this illustrated children’s book.

Baby Palm, Daddy Palm, and Grandma Palm live together on a beautiful island in the Caribbean. Every full moon, humans arrive to collect old fronds that the trees have dropped, but Baby Palm doesn’t want to abandon his. “When I let my old ones go, I make room for new fronds to grow,” observes Daddy Palm, but Baby Palm clings tightly to what he knows. As the humans come month after month, Baby Palm notices one woman’s shape changing; she’s going to have a baby. When there are sounds of celebration over the hill, Baby Palm wants to know what’s going on, but Daddy Palm says he’ll have to grow tall enough to find out for himself. Curiosity wins out and Baby Palm decides he’s ready: He drops his fronds and realizes it really doesn’t hurt at all. As the months pass, Baby Palm grows, and soon he sees that his old fronds have become a crib for the human baby. Told in simple, accessible language, this series opener presents a clear metaphor for children discarding things they no longer need—whether that means not being afraid to lose their teeth or deciding to give up an old toy (as suggested in the end pages). But while the parallel is distinct, Mir’s engaging story is never heavy-handed. Like Daddy Palm and Grandma Palm, the tale remains patient as Baby Palm works out his willingness to release his old fronds at his own speed. Kamieniecki’s basic dot-and-line faces for the palm trees contrast with the more complex expressions of the brown-skinned humans, but both deftly communicate the emotions of the characters. There are also hidden pictures on each page, described in the endnotes, offering young readers a reason to go back and pore over the story. The scientific explanations about the relationship between humans and palm trees should be as much fun for adults as they are for children.

A gentle, charming, and encouraging tale about bravely growing up.