BUMPETY BUMP!

The simple verse that accompanies a wheelbarrow-borne boy (“bumpety bumpety bump”) and his burly grandfather as they harvest a garden is background music to Hutchins’s trademark art. The colors of the plants are lush and saturated, but also true to form. The two gardeners have an enjoyable three-dimensionality, with a depth and tactility that makes them appear as if they have been fashioned out of clay. Particularly fun—and painlessly instructive—is that Hutchins brings the underground into play, giving young readers a chance to see roots and tubers going about their important work. Along for the garden tour is a red hen quiet as a shadow to whom the boy points out what he can do as he picks the vegetables. She caps the show by providing her own contribution to what will surely be a grand feast. Good enough to make the stomach start rumbling. (Picture book. 3-5)