Review_CHILDREN’S
WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 51Harris conjures a psychedelic sensory feast in
his new picture book (reviewed on this page).Picture Books
★ Have You Ever Seen a Flower?
Shawn Harris. Chronicle, $17.99 (48p)
ISBN 978-1-4521-8270-4
Leaving a huddle of pencil-gray sky-
scrapers in its wake, a car holding a city’s
single colorful denizen heads for wide-
open country and into hills covered with
wildflowers. A child with long, multi-
hued hair, a white terrier at their heels,
runs into a variegated meadow awash in
hues. “Have you ever seen a flower?” a
voice asks, then presses further: “I mean
really...// seen a flower?” The child buries
their face amid the field’s blooms. “Have
you ever seen a flower using nothing but
your nose?” The persistent questioning is
matched by the visual intensity of the
spreads, colored-pencil drawings bursting
with energy, angular shapes in rainbow
hues that are bounded by crisp-edged
negative space. Attention is paid first to
the senses as ways of knowing nature
deeply, and then to the idea of aliveness
itself. “Life is inside you,” the voice says.
“Now sip a drip of water...” it instructs,
“Feel it slip and trickle all the way down
to your roots. Do you feel yourself
growing?” With assurance and passion in
his solo debut, Harris (A Polar Bear in the
Snow) connects readers to the stirrings of
life in all its forms. Ages 3–5. Agent: Steven
Malk, Writers House. (May)
Atticus Caticus
Sarah Maizes, illus. by Kara Kramer. Candlewick,
$16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5362-0840-5
Like all feline fans, a young cat owner
can’t get enough of a self-possessed pet’s
quirky ways in this book. From morning
to night, the white, black-haired child
sings the praises of feline Atticus in
Maizes’s (Once upon a Buzzbee) thoroughly
authentic combination of epithet and
rhyme. In phrases rendered for maximum
expressiveness in a mix of typography and
handwriting, the kid begins with
“Atticus. Cat-icus. Rat-a-tat-tat-ticus,”
first beating time on a box drum, then
marveling at how the cat “yawns with his
whole head.” Atticus has mischievous
yellow eyes and black ears (“like a bat-
tat-ticus”), rendered in digital art by
debut illustrator Kramer, that resembles
collaged paper, crayon, and tempera
paints—the sort of art supplies a child
would have on hand to make an extended
cat valentine. And Atticus proves himself
a worthy object of adoration; in fact, he’s a
performative puss nonpareil, zooming
through the house, pouncing on a toy,
and chittering to a bright red bird on the
window’s other side. Could Atticus be a
little more reciprocal in affection? Perhaps.
But he does let the child scritch his
“tummy so fat-ticus!” And in cat terms,
there’s really no greater gift. Ages 3–7.
Author’s agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt.
Illustrator’s agent: Stephanie Fretwell-Hill,
Red Fox Literary. (May)Training Day (El Toro and Friends)
Raúl the Third. Versify, $9.99 (56p) ISBN 978-0-
358-38038-2
Pura Belpré Medalist Raúl the Third
expands the ¡Vamos! universe in this
jaunty spin-off series opener following
the luchador El Toro and his friends. In
this installment, rooster and unrelenting
luchador trainer Kooky Dooky endeavors
to motivate a lethargic El Toro to prepare
for his match against The Wall, a power-
fully built wrestler “made out of bricks”
and “undefeated champion of the world.”
Sporting a nightcap and comfortably bur-
rowed underneath star-patterned blan-
kets, El Toro gives excuse after excuse, in
English and Spanish, to avoid training
(“I’m tired. Estoy cansado”), but the
sprightly Kooky Dooky remains unde-
terred (“You are not tired. You slept for
eight hours!”). The action picks up once
Kooky Dooky persuades El Toro to try a
training regimen—readers are treated toa montage of El Toro performing a series
of increasingly hilarious tasks (e.g., hit-
ting “the Spiked Piñatas of DOOM!”). As
in the World of ¡Vamos! books, the creator,
alongside colorist Elaine Bay, utilizes
comics-style layouts and an eye-catching,
lightly faded color palette. Though the big
match-up between El Toro and The Wall
feels truncated, lively banter and humorous
illustrations make for an absorbing early
reader. Publishing simultaneously: Ta g
Team (El Toro and Friends). Ages 4–7. (Apr.)Hudson and Tallulah Take Sides
Anna Kang, illus. by Christopher Weyant. Two
Lions, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5420-0668-2
The only thing that Hudson, a scruffy
brown dog, seems to have in common with
neighbor Tallulah, a white cat with ginger
markings, is the fence separating their
yards and the antagonism they share. On
an excursion around the neighborhood,
their differences repeatedly surface.
Tallulah turns up her nose at dumpster-
diving Hudson’s “feast”; Hudson yawns as
Tallulah gleefully chases a butterfly. But
after Tallulah warmly greets the mail car-
rier by contentedly wrapping herself around
his legs, Hudson is outraged (“He’s my
enemy”), and each glowers: “Stay on YOUR
side.” Luckily, it’s not long before a puddle
of bathing birds simultaneously attracts
the adversaries; their mischievous romp
through it sends birds flying and becomes
the first of many activities they appreciate
equally. Aptly captured by married team
Kang and Weyant (You Are (Not) Small), the
unlikely friends’ comic path to camaraderie
unfolds nearly wordlessly, with expressive
gouache and graphite scenes that burst with
physical humor, showing that even those
who fight like cats and dogs can be friends.
Ages 4–8. Agent (for author and illustrator):
Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. (May)★ Memory Jars
Vera Brosgol. Roaring Brook, $18.99 (48p)
ISBN 978-1-250-31487-1
Young Freda lives with her sensible
Gran, who reassures her when Freda can’t
finish eating the perfectly ripe blueberries
they pick: “Calm down, French Fry,” Gran
says. “We can put them in a jar and save
them.” Sure enough, when they’re made
into jam and preserved in glass, they’re
just as luscious. Wondering if other
ephemeral things can be similarly captured,Children’s/YA