Review By HOMA WOODRUM

If you’ve read Huyen’s glowing review of Jo MacDonald Saw a Pond, my take on a publisher’s review copy of the companion Jo MacDonald Had a Garden will come as no surprise. We really enjoyed this book! In fact, my three-year-old daughter was much more engaged in this than the previous book in the series.

Written by Mary Quattlebaum and illustrated with watercolors by Laura J. Bryant, the book follows the style of the children’s song “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” but tells the story of Jo MacDonald’s garden through the four seasons. The rhymes flow naturally and never feel forced as Jo gets her hands dirty preparing soil, planting seeds, caring for the garden, and enjoying the fruits (and vegetables) of her and her friend’s labor. Extra details include the birds and insects in the garden going through their own cycles – birds laying eggs, etc. My favorite thing about the illustrations is how Jo and the little boy that is working alongside her seem to be dancing along with the song, like wiggling with worms or flapping their arms as if they were birds.

There is an implication that this is happening on or near Old MacDonald’s farm, such as an illustration featuring a bearded gentleman in overalls walking with a horse in the background but otherwise the only animals featured are those inhabiting the garden. In the comments of my review of All Kinds of Kisses, reader Sara MM mentioned that when she reads books with farm animals to her two year old daughter she explains “throughout the story how the animals live on a sanctuary and what that means (in easy to understand form of course),” which I thought was worth sharing.

The garden setting is a little more identifiable than the pond setting for my daughter as we live in the desert and have always had a garden for her to learn in. Speaking of learning in the garden, there are a few pages of information at the end of the book that make it a useful teaching tool. If you enjoyed Jo MacDonald Saw a Pond, you will love this book. If you are wondering whether you need two books following this theme I’ll say we enjoyed seeing what else Jo has been up to. A great reading selection to celebrate spring being just around the corner.

What are you planting this year? We had luck with carrots last year so those will certainly figure into our garden plans.  There’s nothing like sharing a small, fresh carrot four ways as a family.

Review By HOMA WOODRUM

I checked out this book based on Jessica’s suggestion as it was just featured as a 2012 Sydney Taylor Honor Book for Younger Readers. As is apparent from the title, Naamah and the Ark at Night, by Susan Campbell Bartoletti and illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Holly Meade, is a Noah’s Ark story but not exclusively so. It is also a bedtime story where the lady of the house (or in this case, ark) ensures that all its occupants are resting contentedly before retiring herself.

The book’s flap indicates that “Naamah is the wife of Noah, and her name means ‘great singer.’” Naamah sings the animals and people on the ark to sleep before going to bed herself. The illustrations are beautiful and creative, alternating between shadowy colors and silhouettes. The illustrations take center stage but the text is lyrical and reads softly while “[s]he sings for moon to fill the night [...] Over the ark, song flows at night.”

The animals are cramped but peaceful, responding gently to Naamah’s attentions as well as to one another. My favorite pages are where Naamah is looking up at the constellations of Greek myth in the sky, I think it is an interesting juxtaposition especially considering that flood stories pervade many cultures. My daughter liked how everyone was being tucked in and checked on, “[c]radled by the song of night.  Hush hush hush, good night.”

Ages 4-9.

Review By LISA ONYKAHONIE

This beautiful little story book is lovely to read aloud to young children.

It’s about the relationship between Lilly, her grandmother, and the whales who appear at the ocean nearby, to sing their mysterious and haunting songs.

Grumpy Great Uncle Fredrick reminds Lilly and her grandmother that whales were hunted for their meat, oil, and blubber and can’t see why they’re so sentimental. Lilly ignores his outburst and Uncle Fredrick stomps out of the room. That night Lilly dreams about the whales and when she awakens, she goes down to the ocean and throws a flower into the water for them. Lilly waits and waits and eventually she is rewarded when she catches sight of some whales nearby.

Read and try not to cry!

Ages 3-8. For activities related to the book, visit Jackson McCormack.

Review By CAROLYN M. MULLIN

In the same vein as the Grow It Yourself! series, the six titles in the Trash to Treasure lineup make arts and crafts an easy, green practice for early elementary students and also challenge their reading skills.

Books are broken up into their respective reuse material: cardboard, jars and pots, buttons and beads, old clothes, paper, and plastic. Each work generally has the same format: description of the material, what happens once it’s disposed of (landfill), how to recycle and repurpose it through a pictorial example of craft ideas, and at least 1 how-to project guide. Included activities can be a bit more commonly known (snow globe from a jar), while others are so creative that even I want to do them: a flower bouquet made of buttons or a ceramic pot wind chime.

I know if I was back in kindergarten I would have absolutely loved to dive into these works with an adult by my side and give them a go. Although there is really only one project with instructions contained within each title, author Daniel Nunn includes website links to the other craft projects. Most adults can figure out what materials are needed and how to assemble them on their own, but who doesn’t love getting more crafty ideas from the net, especially when Nunn recommends PBS Kids and Artists Helping Children?

Ages 3-8.

Review By JESSICA ALMY

In honor of Squirrel Appreciation Day, I thought it would be appropriate to review a book that my daughter received from some fellow squirrel enthusiasts entitled One More Acorn.

The story follows a father grey squirrel in the late fall, as he searches for a buried acorn. People have descended upon Washington, D.C., the city in which the squirrel lives, for a parade, and he anxiously scurries around their feet in search of one more acorn. Set against a stunning backdrop that includes Lafayette Square and the Washington Monument, the book sets the drama in the squirrel’s life — finding food for his family to last the winter — against the drama of out-of-town visitors gathered in the nation’s capital for what is clearly a monumental event.

The real drama and charm of this book, however, are in the story behind the story. Written and illustrated in both the 1960s and the early 2000s, this picture book represents a collaboration between a son and his father, Don Freeman, the author and illustrator of some of the most beloved children’s books, including Corduroy. A note at the end of the book explains that Don Freeman began the book when he visited Washington to cover hearings on the Civil Rights Bill in 1963 for Christian Science Monitor. Saddened, however, by the subsequent assassination of President Kennedy, the elder Freeman never finished the book, and it wasn’t until his son, Roy Freeman, inherited his father’s sketch books and notes that the story was completed.

The end result is a beautiful, seamless book that will enchant children and adults alike. It’s a great pick for anyone who likes squirrels, and would be particularly apt as reading material during a visit to Washington.

Ages 3-7.

Review By HOMA WOODRUM

Lavishly illustrated, All Kinds of Kisses by Caldecott Medalist Nancy Tafuri is a big and bright book that follows animal parents kissing their babies. The unifying narrative that is noteworthy for veg parents, however, is that the animals featured are all connected by living on the same farm, ending with the human mother in the farmhouse kissing her baby.

Before writing reviews for Vegbooks, I never considered that images and stories that depict life on a farm as idyllic, with chickens scratching around out of doors, a farmer lovingly hand feeding sheep apples, and pigs playing in a pool of water, is a form of propoganda. A strong word, I know, but the classic image of the American subsistence farmer is heavily marketed to children with books, toys, and songs. At any rate, I still think this book is beautiful, the illustrations really take advantage of the large size of the book and even have visual goodies like a different bug hiding on each page. The animal baby and parent theme is common enough that veg parents can decide whether to check this one out (Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too? comes to mind as an alternative) but I think we’ll be keeping this review copy on our shelves.

Ages 1-4.

Do you have a favorite book with hidden details?

Review By JENNIFER KALI

Dora’s cousin Diego is also an adventurer, but Diego is a boy with a mission. At the beginning of each episode, Diego announces, “Hi!  I am Diego and I am an animal rescuer!” Then he goes on to exclaim, “I love animals!” With his team, made up of his sister Alicia and Click the camera, each episode revolves around Diego rescuing a wild animal in need. The animals are in somewhat dangerous situations (such as stuck in a tree in a flood), but the show is fun and not too scary. Since each show is about a different animal, each show focuses on learning traits specific to each animal, and at the end of the episode, Alicia reviews the traits we learned and records them in her animal science journal.

My daughter, age 2.5, loves this show. She received a three-episode DVD for Christmas from Grandma and she begs to watch it every day. I think I know those three episodes by heart now. All seasons of the show are available on Netflix instant viewing, so thankfully, we don’t have to only watch those three episodes.

She’s also a big Dora fan. I enjoy Dora for her because she is a great female role model. She goes on outdoor adventures and there is nothing she can’t do. But I also really like Diego because it’s all about helping animals. Diego seems to be aimed at a slightly older demographic than Dora and teaches different skills. While both shows focus on problem solving and Spanish language skills, Dora seems more focused on lists and ordering while Diego is more focused on learning about animals. My favorite thing about both shows is that the main characters are non-white. Like my daughter, the characters have brown skin and big brown eyes, such a rarity in children’s TV and books. 

Overall I think this is a great show, especially for families with concerns about animal welfare.

Ages 2-7.

We love this book. We got it for our daughter (age 2.5) for Christmas and have read it many times since then. It’s the story of a little girl thinking about all of the fun she and her two moms are going to have in her neighborhood the next day. As she lays in bed listening to the sound of the train go by, she thinks about taking the bus to the museum, eating pretzels from a cart, and feeding pigeons in the park.  And as she drifts off to sleep, she thinks, “I like city life the best.”

As city dwellers ourselves, this book really resonated with us. So many children’s books are about farming or other things that are just not a part of our lives. Our daughter loves this book because it features two moms, which is like her family, but also because she recognizes all of the images in the book. We take buses and trains, we go to museums, and we walk to the farmers market.

The text of the book is simple and the illustrations are unique. The pages with text feature large black text on bold colors (orange and green mostly) and the facing pages feature simple hand drawn black and white drawings.

Because we love this book so much, we find it unfortunate that it depicts both zoos and aquariums. The book is short, maybe 20 pages, so it’s amazing to find two mention of animals in captivity.  My daughter, never having been to an aquarium, thinks it’s pretty silly to “take a bus to see the hippopotamus.”

Because we like this book so much, we will keep it in our collection, though we find the references to animals in captivity to be quite unfortunate.

Ages 2-6.

Review By JESSICA ALMY

I remember the long stretch of days when I was a kid, how summer seemed endless, and that we settled into games quickly enough to (nearly) finish them in twenty minutes of recess. Looking back, I think that time seemed different then, possibly because of my point of reference — only a few years of memories, only a few more years than that spent alive. So then, I wonder, how do hummingbirds and tortoises experience the world and the passage of time?

In what may be the best children’s book of 2011, Steve Jenkins explores just this question, and many others too. Not only does Just a Second simulataneously dive into the conventions of time — which increments are related to the workings of the universe (the year) and which are artificial constructs (the second) — and the natural histories of many animals (including humans), but does so in a way that’s completely accessible to children. With intriguing nuggets of information, such as the fact that a baby blue whale feeding on mother’s milk may gain ten pounds in an hour, Jenkins’ is the kind of book that may inspire a child to become a marine mammologist, or a naturalist, or a physicist. Facts aren’t presented for information’s sake, or even for mere interest, but because they may inspire further inquiry — an approach I absolutely love.

Bright, eye-catching illustrations round out this wonderful children’s book, which would readily do double-duty as a coffee table book.

Families who care about the environment will delight to learn that this book, like many of Jenkins’ other works, has a strong but subtle conservation theme. Readers will discover, for example, that each minute, 59,000 barrels of oil are used (almost 15,000 of them in the United States), and each hour, an average of 19 gallons of fresh water is used for every person on earth.

Oh, and did I mention that Jenkins presents a stunning one-page visual history of the universe, and a compelling graphic about the growth of the human population?

This masterpiece of a book is a great pick for kids ages 4 to 8 (and adults like me).

Review By LISA ONYKAHONIE

Tyrannosaurus Drip is a lovely rhyming story with great illustrations for young children. It’s all about a vegetarian duckbill dinosaur called Drip who ends up being raised by a T Rex family, after his egg lands in their nest.

The story is similar in many ways to the Ugly Duckling. Poor little Drip doesn’t fit in with his meat-loving family. Eventually he runs away and shows that he can outsmart the fierce, but rather stupid T Rexs.

Ages 3-6.