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THIS IS A TINY FRAGILE SNAKE

Name: THIS IS A TINY FRAGILE SNAKE
Author: Nicholas Ruddock
ISBN: 9781773067841

by Nicholas Ruddock ; illustrated by Ashley Barron ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

Quaint poems, charmingly illustrated.

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A seasonal cycle of poems examines the gentle confrontations that result when human-built environments share space with animal habitats.

Ruddock composes most poems as two or three quatrains with an ABCB rhyme scheme. While Barron’s lively cut-paper collages depict racially diverse children as the presumed narrators of the animal interactions, the balladlike stanzas, peppered with old-fashioned phrasing, belie the authorial voice of a ruminating adult. After the titular snake is nearly stepped on, “we trapped her in a coffee cup, / a playing card to seal, / and moved her to the nearby woods, / no longer under heel.” In “Bear,” a child avers, “One morning I set out upon / a quarter-mile jog, / when suddenly a lumbering bear / clambered from the bog.” The child “wisely” turns around and walks away; upon safely looking back, the child sees the creature “snuffling at blueberries”—she “cared not a bit for me.” Several poems visit interactions that will be familiar to many: picnic ants, a skunk on the porch, a squirrel intent on a pet dog’s kibble. Other entries focus on a fleeting twilight encounter between a moose and a family in a car and herons observed from a canoe. Barron supplies a bright abundance of supporting plants and animals for the poems’ spring-to-winter arc. Ruddock sticks a nice landing with “Winter,” citing each foregoing animal’s current status—including, “curled in a nest of moss / …our tiny fragile snake.”

Quaint poems, charmingly illustrated. (Picture book/poetry. 3-7)

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781773067841

Page Count: 36

Publisher: Groundwood

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S POETRY

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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.

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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

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A LIBRARY

by Nikki Giovanni ; illustrated by Erin K. Robinson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 27, 2022

A lushly illustrated homage to librarians who provide a welcome and a home away from home for all who enter.

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A love letter to libraries.

A Black child, with hair in two puffballs tied with yellow ribbons, a blue dress with a Peter Pan collar, and black patent leather Mary Janes, helps Grandmother with the housework, then, at Grandmother’s suggestion, heads to the library. The child’s eagerness to go, with two books under an arm and one in their hand, suggests that this is a favorite destination. The books’ wordless covers emphasize their endless possibilities. The protagonist’s description of the library makes clear that they are always free to be themselves there—whether they feel happy or sad, whether they’re reading mysteries or recipes, and whether they feel “quick and smart” or “contained and cautious.” Robinson’s vibrant, carefully composed digital illustrations, with bright colors that invite readers in and textures and patterns in every image, effectively capture the protagonist’s passion for reading and appreciation for a space where they feel accepted regardless of disposition. In her author’s note, Giovanni states that she spent summers visiting her grandmother in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she went to the Carnegie Branch of the Lawson McGhee Library. She expresses gratitude for Mrs. Long, the librarian, who often traveled to the main library to get books that Giovanni could not find in their segregated branch. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A lushly illustrated homage to librarians who provide a welcome and a home away from home for all who enter. (Picture book. 4-7)