Required reading for budding phytophiles.
When a young boy’s beloved plant collection overtakes his bedroom, he must figure out how to turn things around.
Leif’s family lives in one of several apartments above their cafe. “Mom bake[s] the treats and Dad brew[s] the beans. But Leif prefer[s] to grow plants in his bedroom with his pal Hortus.” The droll, rather sophisticated text describes the boy’s obsession: Leif’s sole holiday requests have always been for specific foliage, he reads up on plant care, and he carefully places poisonous flora out of reach of Hortus, a turtle. When asked how many plants he has, Leif responds, “Not enough,” while his parents say, “Too many.” Leif’s successful nurturing results in his plants twining themselves around the furniture and spilling across the entire house. After Leif’s watering can and library book disappear amid the jungle that’s consumed his home, the ultimate crisis occurs: Hortus goes missing. Leif adamantly refuses to remove any plants but does acknowledge the problem. Leif quickly solves the problem (indeed, the swift resolution may be a bit unsatisfying for readers), leading to benefits for the entire urban neighborhood. Wen’s colorful, stylized illustrations are a wonderful complement to Wang’s quietly amusing text and include ethnic diversity in group scenes; Leif and his family present East Asian. Backmatter offers helpful instructions about plant propagation, plus a list of pet-friendly houseplants.
Required reading for budding phytophiles. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781324052784
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Norton Young Readers
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators.
Existing artwork from an artistic giant inspires a fairy-tale reimagination by a master of the horror genre.
In King’s interpretation of a classic Brothers Grimm story, which accompanies set and costume designs that the late Sendak created for a 1997 production of Engelbert Humperdinck’s opera, siblings Hansel and Gretel survive abandonment in the woods and an evil witch’s plot to gobble them up before finding their “happily ever after” alongside their father. Prose with the reassuring cadence of an old-timey tale, paired with Sendak’s instantly recognizable artwork, will lull readers before capitalizing on these creators’ knack for injecting darkness into seemingly safe spaces. Gaping faces loom in crevices of rocks and trees, and a gloomy palette of muted greens and ocher amplify the story’s foreboding tone, while King never sugarcoats the peach-skinned children’s peril. Branches with “clutching fingers” hide “the awful enchanted house” of a “child-stealing witch,” all portrayed in an eclectic mix of spot and full-bleed images. Featuring insults that might strike some as harsh (“idiot,” “fool”), the lengthy, dense text may try young readers’ patience, and the often overwhelmingly ominous mood feels more pitched to adults—particularly those familiar with King and Sendak—but an introduction acknowledges grandparents as a likely audience, and nostalgia may prompt leniency over an occasional disconnect between words and art.
Menacing and most likely to appeal to established fans of its co-creators. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9780062644695
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard.
A grouchy sapling on a Christmas tree farm finds that there are better things than lights and decorations for its branches.
A Grinch among the other trees on the farm is determined never to become a sappy Christmas tree—and never to leave its spot. Its determination makes it so: It grows gnarled and twisted and needle-less. As time passes, the farm is swallowed by the suburbs. The neighborhood kids dare one another to climb the scary, grumpy-looking tree, and soon, they are using its branches for their imaginative play, the tree serving as a pirate ship, a fort, a spaceship, and a dragon. But in winter, the tree stands alone and feels bereft and lonely for the first time ever, and it can’t look away from the decorated tree inside the house next to its lot. When some parents threaten to cut the “horrible” tree down, the tree thinks, “Not now that my limbs are full of happy children,” showing how far it has come. Happily for the tree, the children won’t give up so easily, and though the tree never wished to become a Christmas tree, it’s perfectly content being a “trick or tree.” Martinez’s digital illustrations play up the humorous dichotomy between the happy, aspiring Christmas trees (and their shoppers) and the grumpy tree, and the diverse humans are satisfyingly expressive.
Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-7335-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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