Review by Booklist Review
In the form of a concrete poem, Hayes and Chotiner have created an ode to the dandelion, one of the prettiest and most detested of flowers. Beginning with a seed that takes root between concrete slabs of a sidewalk, the tale depicts the plant's life cycle. Miraculously, a tiny flower survives spring and summer in the busy city, and "on the first day of fall, the wind begins to blow," which sends the dandelion seeds flying. Readers follow three seeds and discover their fate after they land in a meadow outside the city. The "moving words" of the title perfectly describe the poem's text as it flows around the pages, changing color and size and adding interest and excitement as readers look forward to its placement in the book's progression. Bold, appealing illustrations, which advance from the gray cityscape to the lush country pasture, were created in mixed media and meld perfectly with the flowing words. Both pictures and text take readers through four seasons as the words form the rain, snow, and wind the dandelion experiences. The tale concludes with "A Dandelion's Life," an easy-to-understand scientific description of the life cycle of the plant, along with sources for further research.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Concrete poetry centers a dandelion's life cycle across seasons and landscapes in this high-spirited picture book. After a summer thunderstorm graces a city, a child with brown skin, black curls, and blue eyes spots "a tiny sprout" in a sidewalk crack, one that grows into a yellow dandelion and then "a feathery/ white ball of/ seeds" before blowing to a more rural northerly clime. Hayes's words pop dynamically off the pages, forming shapes that mimic the lines' meaning, while Chotiner's textural, action-packed art shows phrases reverberating like a lightning flash, forming a rainbow-like arc, and rooting in soil as a seedling, among other shapes. The story comes pleasingly full circle when a second child, portrayed with light brown skin, plucks a dandelion from a field and gives the seeds a satisfying blow, beginning the journey anew. Back matter chronicles the life cycle of a dandelion. Ages 3--7. (Mar.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3--Growing in the crack of a sidewalk, a little dandelion sets seeds sailing to a new meadow home. Following the seeds' journey from the concrete jungle to a lush summer field, readers will learn all about the little plant's life cycle and versatile habits. The clever integration of text, color, and imagery has the words dancing across the pages in the style of shape or concrete poetry. When a rainbow appears, the multi-hued words arc across the scene. As the dandelion seeds lie dormant through the winter, stolid lines of chunky text evoke the oppressive weight of heavily falling snow. Deer nibbling the tasty flower petals leave the letters looking decidedly worse for wear. Readers will enjoy following the frolicking text, excited to see where it goes at the next turn of the page, culminating in the familiar pleasure of blowing on a dandelion puff. The city scenes depict a diverse and vibrant urban community, creating a pleasurable contrast to the green, animal-filled meadow. Back matter includes additional information about a dandelion's life cycle, enhancing the book's potential for integration into lessons of plants, life cycles, and seasons. VERDICT Perfect for spring, this lively celebration of the humble dandelion adds flair to all collections.--Alyssa Annico
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Review by Horn Book Review
A seed grows into a dandelion and becomes a ball of seeds that scatter. In a book that relies on typographical creativity to relate information, text placement mimics what's happening in the story. On the opening spread, for instance, "a million silver raindrops... / falling, falling, falling... / hitting the sidewalk with a splash" takes the form of an active rainstorm. On the subsequent spread, the text about the post-storm rainbow is set in an arc shape, each line a different color. A sprout pops up in the city sidewalk, revealing the buttery-yellow petals of a dandelion. Soon, it's "a feathery / white ball of / seeds," which then sail on the wind and land far away in a green field. One dandelion survives to spread its seeds again. The book's playful visual imagery, which also includes various font colors, makes for an engaging read; the text not only forms concrete shapes but also conveys movement (the title's "moving words") and successfully communicates the scientific elements of the story (e.g., lines of text shaped like roots in the soil). Back matter provides more facts about these "tough" flowers and their life cycle. Julie Danielson March/April 2022 p.(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
