Review by New York Times Review
Great picture books can teach kids things - sometimes things they thought they knew already 32 pp. First Second. $17.99. (Ages 2 to 6) VROOM! Written and illustrated by Barbara McClintock A girl and her racecar are at the center of this satisfying book, gorgeously illustrated as always by McClintock ("Adele & Simon"). "It was a fine evening for a drive," so our heroine zooms right out her window, bushy red hair streaming out of her helmet. She goes through mountains, a desert, a forest and a city, ending up back at her own house, where she settles in for story time with Dad (a book called "Cars," of course). The tone is marvelously matter of fact, about both the girl's feats of driving and her automotive passion. 32 pp. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $17.99. (Ages 3 to 7) HOLD HANDS Written and illustrated by Sara Varon Varon's singular visual style - bright, friendly and completely zany - and her deft, economical writing make this simple ode to holding hands burst with originality and charm. The book's goggle-eyed creatures are identifiable as rabbits, elephants, ducks and so on, but they wear clothes, ride the bus, go to play dates and day care. All the while they demonstrate the many uses of hand-holding: helping when you're scared, keeping you safe when you cross the street, showing your mom you love her. This world is funny and askew enough to grab and hold a toddler or preschooler's interest, and orderly and reassuring enough to make that same kid feel protected and cared for. WHEN SADNESS IS AT YOUR DOOR Written and illustrated by Eva Eland "Sometimes sadness arrives unexpectedly," this wise, spare book announces. Eland draws sadness as a pale blue blob, rather gentle looking, that shadows a little girl. Lots of white space on each page keeps the mood soothing and thoughtful as the girl tries to figure out what to do. Hiding it doesn't work, but she soon sees sadness as nothing to be afraid of - sadness can't help itself, and means no harm. There's lots of useful advice for sad days: going for a walk through the trees, or just sitting quietly together. Best of all, there's the calm reminder that tomorrow, "when you wake up it might be gone." 32 pp. Random Flouse. $17.99. (Ages 3 to 7) MONTY AND THE POODLES Written and illustrated by Katie Harnett As any owner of a beloved, breed-indeterminate rescue mutt knows, dogs can be a good entree into stories about inequality and prejudice. In this beguilingly written and illustrated tale, Monty is a scraggly blackand-white street creature who stumbles upon some poodles living in luxury at Poodle Mansions. Friendship ensues, against the wishes of the snooty Miss Lillabet. Monty gets a blowout and passes as a poodle, but that just feels wrong. So justice and friendship prevail: The pooches turn an old movie theater into a place where "everyone was welcome." 40 pp. Flying Eye. $17.95. (Ages 4 to 8) HOME IS A WINDOW By Stephanie Parsley Ledyard. Illustrated by Chris Sasaki. Halfway through this tribute to all that makes a place home, like "a table with something good and the people gathered there," it becomes clear that the family in its pages is moving to a new house. New definitions for home follow - "the shirt that smells like your old room" - as we see the family singing in the car, and eating takeout picnic-style at their new place. Ledyard's ("Pie Is for Sharing") words hit every right note; Sasaki's illustrations are earthy and enchanting. 32 pp. Neal Porter/Holiday House. $18.99. (Ages 4 to 8) YOU ARE HOME: AN ODE TO THE NATIONAL PARKS Written and illustrated by Evan Turk Invoking herds of elk and forests of aspen as well as a kid living in a city, Turk captures the grandness of the very idea of our national parks. With bold, freewheeling painting and equally bold, concise poetry, plus informational pages, he has made a book as majestic and inclusive as its subject. 56 pp. Atheneum. $18.99. (Ages 4 and up) LITTLE TACO TRUCK By Tanya Valentine. Illustrated by Jorge Martin. It's about time food trucks took their rightful places in the pantheon of picture-book vehicles. In this whimsically illustrated story an innocent taco truck is dismayed to find there's competition for his usual spot: a falafel truck, oblivious to her trespass! Rest assured, Valentine's story is about making space for everyone, even if it's a bit of a squeeze, and enjoying all the goodness the world has to offer. 32 pp. Schwartz & Wade. $17.99. (Ages 4 to 8) HOW TO READ A BOOK By Kwame Alexander. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Alexander's lush poem captures and pays tribute to the sensual pleasures of reading: finding the right comfortable spot, opening your book "like you would a clementine," savoring the beauty and richness of its words. Sweet's colorful multilayered collages and artful lettering do justice to the message, inviting readers of all ages to linger in these lovely pages. "Don't rush through," Alexander reminds us. "Your eyes need time to taste. Your soul needs room to bloom." 32 pp. HarperCollins. $17.99. (Ages 4 to 8) MARIA RUSSO is the children's books editor of the Book Review.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [June 23, 2019]
Review by Booklist Review
This love letter to America's national treasures is an important, informative invitation to experience and explore. Author-illustrator Turk (Heartbeat, 2018) offers spreads of well-known parks (Yosemite, Yellow Stone, Mesa Verde) and some lesser-known parks (Biscayne Bay, Olympic, Big Bend). Animals such as bison, bobcat, chipmunk, and elk, as well as physical features of the land (glaciers, mountains, rivers, volcanoes) are pictured. Lyrical free verse tells readers that the national parks are preserved for everyone, and when we visit them, we are home. Home, Turk says, is a memory / of footsteps and wingbeats, / of sunrise and sunset ... / a memory carried / through wind and rain, / echoing in canyons / carved way down deep / in the heart of the earth / and in our hearts alike. Margin-to-margin illustrations use pastels on black paper to create appealing views of select national parks; the name of the park featured on those pages is printed in the lower corner. Back matter includes an author's note, a map of all the national parks in the U.S., and a listing of the 27 featured in the book. Also included is a brief history of the national park system and a call to protect the parks.--Maryann Owen Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Splendid landscapes by Turk (Heartbeat) celebrate America's national parks. In free verse that enumerates their natural riches, he pays homage to a number of parks (labeled in corresponding spreads) with the incantatory refrain of the title: "to the herds of elk/ trumpeting the arrival of fall;/ to the forests of twinkling aspen/ turned golden by the shortening days./ you are home." The title phrase applies to park visitors, too: "to the child in the city,/ surrounded by windows,/ noise, and crowds... you are home." In the text-and more fully in an author's note-Turk acknowledges that the parks' establishment sometimes meant the removal of their indigenous inhabitants: "to the child whose ancestors/ lived on these lands before the stars and stripes/ took them as their own./ you are still home." In consistently powerful spreads, the artist highlights the play of sun and shadow over mountains and canyons with fiery oranges, deep rusts and cobalts, and velvety black. There are 58 U.S. national parks, and 22 appear here, from Yosemite and Yellowstone to Biscayne Bay. It's hard to imagine a more fitting testament to their grandeur. Ages 4-8. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3--Turk takes readers on a visual journey through 25 national parks with the effect of perusing a travelogue. Each landscape spread features a different park subtly named in the bottom corner that sometimes includes wildlife or human visitors. The illustrations, rendered in pastel on black paper are, with a few notable exceptions (the Arches, Everglades, and Biscayne), predominantly dark. Touches of yellows, blues, and greens lighten most pages, but the cumulative effect is one of darkness. Endpapers depict a sunrise and a starry night sky; most pages in between have a dawn, dusk or nighttime feel. Back matter includes a U.S. map with all 58 National Parks indicated, author notes, and further information about the featured parks and animals. Unfortunately, the print on the "More About" page is so small only the hardiest of young readers might believe it was meant for them. The text is indeed a classic ode with the refrain, "you are home." Turk first addresses the creatures you might encounter in the parks, turns his attention to "the child in the city," "the child on the farm," and then immigrants and "ancestors," touching upon the irony that many of these lands were home to Native Americans before the "stars and stripes took them as their own," only to preserve the land as "a place for all." VERDICT Rather than sparking young readers' interest in our National Parks, this earnest but abstract picture book will be most appreciated by those who are already familiar with them.--Lynn Van Auken, Oak Bluffs School, MA
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
From Acadia in the east to Olympic in the west, Turk presents an artistic and inclusive ode to America's national parks.Readers who pick up this 12-inch-square book will be immersed in nature and art even before they open it, as they share an adult and child's view of mountains, flowers, stream, and sky. Much like the parks they celebrate, each majestic spread in this book holds wonders for the eye to explore, with one or occasionally two parks represented per spread. Well-known and lesser-known parks alike are featured, whetting readers' appetites to learn more and explore. From close-up views of animalspronghorn amid prairie grasses, bison in a snowy oasis, a bobcat in the darkto children and their familiescity children and farm children, immigrants and Indigenous, all joyously diversethe text repeats the soothing refrain to all: "you are home." The art is created using pastel on black paper, which produces a deep feeling of purpose behind each stroke and swath of color. The art could stand alone, but the words manage to add even more weight, pinpointing the feeling familiar to many nature lovers: "a sense of belonging, / sung by the streams, / from valleys to peaks, / over thousands of miles, / through millions of hearts." Perusing this book induces a longing to go outside and travel but also to create art of one's own.Masterful. (Picture book. 5-adult) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
