A good introduction to the Wood Wide Web and a reminder that everyone needs a little help sometimes.
Anthropomorphized trees use the Wood Wide Web to support each other in tough times.
Little Tree is a Douglas fir sapling in an old-growth forest where sunlight and water are tough to come by. In despair, Little Tree cries, but trees don’t cry tears; instead, their sadness moves from their roots into the earth and touches a strand of fungus that is part of the Wood Wide Web. The message spreads to nearby trees. Most have reasons they can’t help; only one has energy to spare. Paper Birch sends her extra sugar and water through the Wood Wide Web, and though some of the trees in between take some of the nutrients and the fungus also uses some for itself, there’s still enough left to help Little Tree. And in winter, when Paper Birch loses her leaves and is struggling, Little Tree returns the favor. Some of the words in the closing glossary never appear in either the story or the final note about Professor Suzanne Simard and her discovery of the Wood Wide Web. The Briticism spinney may have readers reaching for the dictionary, and the fir is consistently referred to as having leaves, not needles. The colored pencil illustrations are charming, with patterns, textures, and shadings bringing the trees and other forest animals to life; fall foliage is especially well done. The trees’ faces and branches are expressive.
A good introduction to the Wood Wide Web and a reminder that everyone needs a little help sometimes. (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780711284876
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Ivy Kids
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Enticing and eco-friendly.
Why and how to make a rain garden.
Having watched through their classroom window as a “rooftop-rushing, gutter-gushing” downpour sloppily flooded their streets and playground, several racially diverse young children follow their tan-skinned teacher outside to lay out a shallow drainage ditch beneath their school’s downspout, which leads to a patch of ground, where they plant flowers (“native ones with tough, thick roots,” Schaub specifies) to absorb the “mucky runoff” and, in time, draw butterflies and other wildlife. The author follows up her lilting rhyme with more detailed explanations of a rain garden’s function and construction, including a chart to help determine how deep to make the rain garden and a properly cautionary note about locating a site’s buried utility lines before starting to dig; she concludes with a set of leads to online information sources. Gómez goes more for visual appeal than realism. In her scenes, a group of smiling, round-headed, very small children in rain gear industriously lay large stones along a winding border with little apparent effort; nevertheless, her images of the little ones planting generic flowers that are tall and lush just a page turn later do make the outdoorsy project look like fun.
Enticing and eco-friendly. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781324052357
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Norton Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A boon for beaver storytimes or young naturalists living near beaver streams.
Readers learn about a keystone species and the habitat they create.
In a “House That Jack Built” style (though minus the cumulative repetition), Sonenshine introduces children to beavers. Beginning with a beaver who’s just gnawed down a willow near their lodge, the author moves on to the dam that blocks the stream and protects their domed home and then to the yearlings that are working to repair it with sticks and mud. Muskrats and a musk turtle take advantage of the safety of the beavers’ lodge, while Coyote tries (and fails) to breach it. Then the book turns to other animals that enjoy the benefits of the pond the beavers have created: goose, ducklings, heron, moose. While the beavers aren’t in all these illustrations, evidence of them is. And then suddenly a flood takes out both the dam and the beavers’ lodge. So, the beavers move upstream to find a new spot to dam and build again, coming full circle back to the beginning of the book. Hunter’s ink-and–colored pencil illustrations have a scratchy style that is well suited to the beavers’ pelts, their watery surroundings, and the other animals that share their habitat. Careful observers will be well rewarded by the tiny details. Beavers are mostly nocturnal, which isn’t always faithfully depicted by Hunter. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A boon for beaver storytimes or young naturalists living near beaver streams. (beaver facts, glossary, further resources) (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1868-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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