A challenging text made visually and viscerally wondrous.
Whitman’s poem is set to a lush and stunning illustrated world.
While the language of Whitman’s 1860 poem may not be as accessible to children as some other picture-book choices, artist Carroll’s illustrations more than compensate. Each line of the poem is illustrated by one or two double-page spreads that both depict the text literally and also convey the mystery and wonder of the natural world that is at the heart of Whitman’s text. Carroll employs varied techniques from one spread to the next: the nebulous forms and blended hues of wet watercolor that depict the bottom of the sea, jellyfish composed of lines so fine they glow electric, an entire ocean patterned with fine swirls reminiscent of Peter Sís’ work. Yet every illustration shares the same haunting eeriness of the deep ocean, a nighttime palette punctuated with explosions of color here or a landscape of colors there. A pale-skinned human child gives the pages a subtle story to follow, diving from a boat to swim the depths alongside existent animals and fantastical creatures alike, then returning to “the subtle air breathed by beings like us who walk this sphere.” A dog watches anxiously from the vessel, ears flapping as the child reemerges, borne up by a sea serpent’s tail.
A challenging text made visually and viscerally wondrous. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-56846-361-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and quiet homage to friendship, nature, and the power of words and poetry.
A little girl enjoys writing poems and gets an unexpected surprise when she writes a poem and gives it to a tree, making “the world more splendid."
Sylvia marks the end of winter with a poem about springtime. After reading it to a squirrel, she ties it to a tree (“hoping that it didn’t count as littering”). When she passes the tree on her way to school the next day, she finds a surprise—another poem on the tree. “She never imagined the tree might write back.” Sylvia continues to write poems to the tree and waits to find the next poem. When she realizes a teasing classmate, Walt, is the author of the other poems, she is sad: “Had the tree she loved so much not given her a thing?” Not too unsurprisingly, the two poets become friends, harmoniously trading rhymes beneath the tree that has brought them together. Using precise, intelligent prose, Reynolds captures moments of a child’s innocence: “ ‘So what’s your name?’ Sylvia asked the tree. But the tree stood in silence. ‘Are you shy like me?’ The tree nodded in the breeze. Sylvia understood.” Maydani’s delicate, pencil-and-watercolor paintings, suffused with spring pastels, affectionately invest Sylvia (who has brown skin), Walt (who presents white), and even the tree with personality.
A sweet and quiet homage to friendship, nature, and the power of words and poetry. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-399-53912-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
A poem about the pandemic with vivid illustrations and a strong environmental message.
During a period of quarantine, people discover new ways to live—and new lessons about how to care for the planet—in this debut picture book.
In this work’s poem, O’Meara describes lockdowns experienced by many across the world during the first days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Beginning with the title phrase, the author discusses quiet activities of solitude and togetherness as well as more boisterous ways of interacting. These times of being apart give people a new perspective, and when they reunite, “they grieved their losses, / and made new choices” to restore the planet. The spare verse allows the illustrations by Di Cristofaro and Pereda to take center stage. The colorful, slightly abstract cartoons depict a rainbow of people and pets, many of them living in apartments but some residing in larger, greener spaces. Images of nature healing show the author’s vision of hope for the future. While this was written in March and originally published as an online poem, the lack of an explicit mention of the reason behind the lockdowns (and the omission of the experiences of essential workers) could offer readers an opportunity to imagine a planetary healing beyond the pandemic that inspired the piece. The accessible prose and beautiful images make this a natural selection for young readers, but older ones may appreciate the work’s deeper meaning.
A poem about the pandemic with vivid illustrations and a strong environmental message.Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73476-178-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tra Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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