bookshelf

THE DANDELION'S TALE

Name: THE DANDELION'S TALE
Author: Kevin Sheehan
ISBN: 978-0-375-87032-3

by Kevin Sheehan ; illustrated by Rob Dunlavey ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 11, 2014

Radiant.

bookshelf

A sparrow fulfills a dandelion’s last wish in this luminous tale about the power of storytelling to keep a loved one’s memory alive.

One summer day, Sparrow hears a dandelion crying. The flower is mourning her impending demise, worried no one will remember her. Wanting to help, Sparrow offers to write the flower’s story on the ground. For hours, the dandelion shares things she’s loved: the smell of the meadow, the laughter of children. Upon completion, the dandelion is happy, and Sparrow promises to come back—but a storm keeps him away. When he returns, the flower and her story are no more. Sparrow weeps; promising not to forget her, he sings. In this incandescent moment, other birds join in the dandelion’s song. Weeks later, Sparrow discovers a patch of baby dandelions growing under the same tree. He shares with them their mother’s story, confident she will not be forgotten. Lyrical illustrations done in ink, watercolor, pencil and crayon softly glow with a reassuring warmth. Done in a palette of earth tones, they skillfully convey the characters’ points of view: lush, whimsical close-ups for the dandelion; expansive, bright swaths of landscape for Sparrow. Dunlavey’s sophisticated compositions also give context to the dandelion’s life cycle; in his dazzling field of gold flowers, readers realize the dandelion’s legacy and the strength of her existence.

Radiant. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 11, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-375-87032-3

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random

Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

bookshelf

CARPENTER'S HELPER

by Sybil Rosen ; illustrated by Camille Garoche ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.

bookshelf

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

bookshelf

LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2015

Safe to creep on by.

bookshelf

Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.

In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.

Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)