Sometimes wonderfully silly, always enlightening, this book branches out to become profoundly moving.
Trees and humans are alike in many ways.
The roughly 3.4 trillion trees on Earth are more than just big plants there to provide humans with wood. They’re highly evolved, community-driven networkers that grow and adapt in ways that people can’t see. In Bunting’s capable hands, trees are also funny and loving; the book combines science and dad jokes to convey the many lessons we can learn from our woodsy friends. Clever illustrations help make the point that, like us, trees are living, social things, such as a human lung drawn to look like an upside-down tree or a tree’s root system drawn to resemble the folds of a human brain and called a “subterranean cerebrum.” Bunting details the ways that trees use their complex root system (“the wood-wide web”) to help each other (for instance, when a tree is injured, other trees send nutrients) and how they change the way they grow (e.g., making sure branches closer to the sun grow more) to ensure survival. The narrative then shifts from silly jokes (“How do you make an oak tree laugh? Tell it acorn-y joke”) to rather insightful lessons from nature. Like trees, Bunting suggests, people should look out for others, stay centered when things get tough, and most of all, “Grow slow, grow strong.” People depicted are racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sometimes wonderfully silly, always enlightening, this book branches out to become profoundly moving. (Informational picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56781-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Enthusiastic and direct, this paean has a lovely ring to it.
Former National Youth Poet Laureate Gorman invites girls to raise their voices and make a difference.
“Today, we finally have a say,” proclaims the first-person plural narration as three girls (one presents Black, another is brown-skinned, and the third is light-skinned) pass one another marshmallows on a stick around a campfire. In Wise’s textured, almost three-dimensional illustrations, the trio traverse fantastical, often abstract landscapes, playing, demonstrating, eating, and even flying, while confident rhymes sing their praises and celebrate collective female victories. The phrase “LIBERATION. FREEDOM. RESPECT” appears on a protest sign that bookends their journey. Simple and accessible, the rhythmic visual storytelling presents an optimistic vision of young people working toward a better world. Sometimes family members or other diverse comrades surround the girls, emphasizing that power comes from community. Gorman is careful to specify that “some of us go by she / And some of us go by they.” She affirms, too, that each person is “a different shape and size,” though the art doesn’t show much variation in body type. Characters also vary in ability. Real-life figures emerge as the girls dream of past luminaries such as author Octavia Butler and activist Marsha P. Johnson, along with present-day role models including poet and journalist Plestia Alaqad and athlete Sha’carri Richardson; silhouettes stand in for heroines as yet unknown. Imagining that “we are where change is going” is hopeful indeed.
Enthusiastic and direct, this paean has a lovely ring to it. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593624180
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude.
A deceptively simple, visually appealing, comprehensive explanation of volcanoes.
Gibbons packs an impressive number of facts into this browsable nonfiction picture book. The text begins with the awe of a volcanic eruption: “The ground begins to rumble…ash, hot lava and rock, and gases shoot up into the air.” Diagrams of the Earth’s structural layers—inner and outer core, mantle, and crust—undergird a discussion about why volcanoes occur. Simple maps of the Earth’s seven major tectonic plates show where volcanoes are likeliest to develop. Other spreads with bright, clearly labeled illustrations cover intriguing subtopics: four types of volcanoes and how they erupt; underwater volcanoes; well-known volcanoes and historic volcanic eruptions around the world; how to be safe in the vicinity of a volcano; and the work of scientists studying volcanoes and helping to predict eruptions. A page of eight facts about volcanoes wraps things up. The straightforward, concise prose will be easy for young readers to follow. As always, Gibbons manages to present a great deal of information in a compact form.
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude. (Nonfiction picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4569-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
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