A sweet springtime story of new beginnings.
Eva must find new hope after a furry friend ruins their garden.
The protagonist starts a garden with a heart full of hope. Beginning with several tiny seeds, the child cares for the garden. With the help of a parent, Eva even makes a scarecrow to protect it from a hungry bunny. But when the bunny returns to munch on the garden and the cat chases it away—making a mess in the process—Eva is overcome by anger and sadness, running into the nearby woods. Wrapped up in a hug from a parent, Eva hears a soft heartbeat (that and Eva’s mother’s burgeoning belly are hints of the new sibling we eventually see). Following a trail of petals that the bunny left behind, Eva makes a beautiful discovery—a passel of little bunnies. Filled with forgiveness and new hope, Eva starts the garden again. This charming story is about resilience in the face of challenge. Eva’s experience is a wonderful example of how a change in perspective can offer us renewed hope. The bright, expressive illustrations add context to the lovely, lyrical verse. Eva presents as biracial with light brown skin and curly black hair; one parent presents as Black, with medium brown skin and curly black hair, while Eva’s mother has light skin and straight black hair. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sweet springtime story of new beginnings. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-32385-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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