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PEACHES

Name: PEACHES
Author: Gabriele Davis
ISBN: 9781419757372

by Gabriele Davis ; illustrated by Kim Holt ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2024

A celebration of family, food, and finding ways to heal.

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An afternoon spent baking helps a child come to terms with loss.

The young narrator explains that “Mama left us when I was a sweet babe, a rock-me-in-her-arms-and-kiss-my-cheek babe.” But the child still happily picks peaches alongside Grandma every Sunday. As the family laughs and smiles while biting into juicy peaches that taste like summer and eating Grandma's peach cobbler, the child notices old photos of Mama and Daddy making cobbler together; the little one realizes that Daddy hasn’t been the same since they lost Mama. The child decides that learning to make the cobbler might help and turns to Grandma: "Teach me? Like you did Mama?" A series of vignettes shows them “tossing, stirring, mixing, kneading.” Next week, the protagonist decides to prepare the dish without Grandma’s help, as a surprise for Daddy. But things go awry, and the child is eventually overcome by tears. Savvy readers will recognize that the cobbler is more than just a sweet treat, and the image of the child mourning gives way to delight and hard-earned triumph as the narrator finishes baking the dessert, which the whole family then shares. Bright, realistic illustrations, made with digital acrylic and pencil, have an almost three-dimensional look in places, particularly the sumptuous peaches. Davis and Holt balance this loving Black family’s feelings of joy and sorrow. A recipe for peach cobbler concludes the work.

A celebration of family, food, and finding ways to heal. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: May 7, 2024

ISBN: 9781419757372

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Abrams

Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
OUR JOYFUL NOISE
by Gabriele Davis ; illustrated by Craig Stanley

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THE WORLD NEEDS THE WONDER YOU SEE

by Joanna Gaines ; illustrated by Julianna Swaney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 28, 2025

Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children.

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Interior decorator and TV personality Gaines invites readers to open their eyes and exercise their imaginations.

There’s a world to be explored out there—and only children can really take part. What does “looking for wonder” entail? Slowing down and looking up, around, and everywhere. At the outset, a group of eager, racially diverse young friends—including one who uses a wheelchair—are fully prepared for a grand adventure. They offer tips about how and where to look: Why, there’s a “grand parade” of marching ants! And, these kids add, perspective is key. A rainy day might signal gloom to some, but to those filled with wonder, showers bring “magic puddles for play”; a forest is “an enchanted world,” the ocean conceals “a spectacular city,” and the night sky boasts “extraordinary sights.” The takeaway: “Wonder is never in short supply.” It’s a robust, empowering message, as is the exhortation to “keep your mind open, and let curiosity guide the way.” Youngsters are also advised to share their discoveries. The upbeat narrative is delivered in clunky verse, but the colorful cartoonish illustrations brimming with activity and good cheer (including some adorable anthropomorphized animals in the backgrounds) make up for the textual lapses and should motivate readers to embark on their own “wonder explorations.”

Handy advice for perpetually inquisitive children. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025

ISBN: 9781400247417

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tommy Nelson

Review Posted Online: yesterday

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WORLD NEEDS WHO YOU WERE MADE TO BE
by Joanna Gaines ; illustrated by Julianna Swaney

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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)