Sublime.
Seasons come and go, and two unlikely friends help the garden prosper.
In a quiet corner, a shy spider listens, tucked in a comfy leaf. Leaves rustle in the wind, the garden tap drip, drip, drips, and high in a tree the owl family hoots (“Twit-twoo”). This is Little Spider’s life day after day. One morning, she hears “Hurry, scurry, worry-worry,” and the sound keeps her from falling asleep. It’s Anxious Ant, rushing around to finish preparations for winter. Tolland gives readers a glimpse underground, where Ant is collecting piles of seeds. “Hurry, scurry, worry-worry,” is its refrain. Little Spider worries that there won’t be any seeds aboveground in the spring, but Anxious Ant says he’s too busy to think about that. Winter is coming! Little Spider offers a trade; she will spin a warm, silky scarf for Anxious Ant in exchange for five seeds. Their friendship is forged. In the spring, with help from sunshine and rain, the seeds sprout into delicate seedlings that, in time, grow into juicy fruit. In the autumn, the unpicked fruit falls to the ground and bursts open, revealing more seeds! Anxious Ant is amazed. He learns not to hoard the seeds but save only a few. That’s all he needs. McKinnon’s ecologically minded tale unfolds with a gentleness that’s in perfect harmony with her lesson. Tolland’s beautiful illustrations do not anthropomorphize her characters but invest them with personality nonetheless; Little Spider’s garden is indeed a lovely one.
Sublime. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-76036-031-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Starfish Bay
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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