Inspiring and delicious.
An eccentric elderly Chinese woman keeps a garden on the roof of her building, enriching the lives of everyone around her.
Granny, who lives in a busy city in southwest China, visits the market but takes only the leftover produce no one wants. She rushes up the stairs to the roof, feeds her chickens with the damaged vegetables, and composts the rest. She tends to her many plants and vegetables, her “gorgeous, chubby veggie children,” each with distinct personalities (eggplants are “quite shy,” while "hot-tempered" chili peppers “quarrel all the time”). Colored-pencil drawings capture Granny’s vivacious energy in a variety of compositions, while stylized human forms with no necks and solid bodies create whimsy. Translated from Chinese, the poetic text, which sometimes rhymes, is full of rich sensory imagery and vocabulary (“cucumbers drizzled with fragrant vinegar, / Tofu stewed with wood ear mushroom”), though some phrasing is awkward (“Who’s over there, crying and throwing a fit?”). Granny is a role model for sure, but such a self-actualized elderly character may not resonate with young readers. Nevertheless, her enthusiasm is contagious as she grows her food, cooks up a storm for her family and neighbors, and finally sends everyone home with a “pre-filled reusable bag” of healthy food.
Inspiring and delicious. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781646147014
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Good fun for all little ninjas and their parents.
After swinging out from the jungle after a long day of ninja-ing, Will makes his way home just in time for a bath. But as all ninjas know, danger lurks around every corner.
Even naughty ninjas get hungry, but Dad says, “Pee-yew,” and insists his little ninja get clean before going near a morsel. Ever the Naughty Ninja, Will follows his dad into the bathroom and immediately spies danger: Poisonous flies that have followed him from the jungle! As any parent would, his dad begs him not to say, “Ninja to the rescue,” because we all know what comes after a catchphrase…chaos! Through each increasingly rough rescue, Dad finds himself more and more defeated in his quest to complete bathtime, but ultimately he starts to find the infectious joy that only the ridiculousness of children can bring out in an adult. The art is bright and finds some nifty ninja perspectives that use the space well. It also places an interracial family at its center: Dad has brown skin and dark, puffy hair, and Mom is a white redhead; when out of his ninja cowl, Will looks like a slightly lighter-skinned version of his father. Kids will laugh at everything the dad is put through, and parents will knowingly nod, because we have all had nights with little ninjas soaking the bathroom floor. The book starts out a little text heavy but finds its groove quickly, reading smoothly going forward. Lots of action means it’s best not to save this one for bedtime.
Good fun for all little ninjas and their parents. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5420-9433-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Two Lions
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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