Review by Booklist Review
Four Black children race toward a giant tree. They climb, scattering themselves among its sturdy branches. Flashback to an earlier time, when a solitary girl picks up a seed. This is Nell. One day she will be a grandmother, sustaining her family as the tree does; the dual narrative explains both of their stories. In the present, there is a lot of joyous activity around the tree, and the movement is reflected in the buoyant language of Wynter's text. Each page begins with a description of what is happening in the illustration, then carries the action backward in time. Nell's scenes of digging, planting, watering, and caring for the tree are accompanied by short and quiet individual lines of prose. As the tree grows, people join Nell. First, a young boy--a brother, perhaps; later, a husband and children. They get older, and the tree's roots and branches expand. By the end, its trunk is wide and solid, and a large, multigenerational family is gathered, enjoying pecan pie made from the tree's nuts. Miyares' pen-and-ink, gouache, and collage illustrations pair well with the two story lines, effectively expanding the concept of a family tree being both a physical tree and a representation of loving relationships, or genealogy.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Toggling between two timelines, Wynter (Everybody in the Red Brick Building) tells a warm, affectionate story behind a cherished pecan tree and an intergenerational family. In an opening sequence, several Black-presenting children, including one wearing a pair of sturdy overalls, enjoy rural pleasures: climbing a huge pecan tree, resting on a wide farmhouse porch, and reveling in just- baked pecan pie. In the other timeline, the Nell of the title, who wears an old-fashioned yellow dress, finds a seed, buries it in a pot, and tends the resultant sapling until it can be planted outside. Deliberately paced page turns reveal that the pecan tree the children are climbing is the same one Nell planted, and that Nell, much older, is now the matriarch of a large, lively family. Pen and ink, gouache, and collage artwork by Miyares (Big and Small and In-Between) exudes the golden light of autumn, and prose by Wynter shimmers with evocative sense words--it's almost possible to smell the pie. Creators' notes conclude. Ages 4--8. Author's agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. Illustrator's agency: Studio Goodwin Sturges. (Jan.)
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Review by Horn Book Review
Wynter (Everybody in the Red Brick Building, rev. 11/21) presents a loving brown-skinned family through the generations in a story that explores, by providing glimpses into the past, how long it takes a tree to grow. In the opening spreads, we see children in the present day figuring out "how high they can climb" in the branches of a tall tree. But before that can happen, a girl (in the past) named Nell must pick up a seed, tend it, and bury its sprout. The children can only play in the tree's cool shade because Nell watered the soil; and so on. Miyares establishes two visual timelines: present-day with elderly Nell and one that is generations past with Nell as a girl. Viewers see the ways in which the characters in the present reap the rewards of a splendid pecan tree (e.g., Nell baking a pecan pie with her grandchildren) and regularly pause to look backward to see young Nell attentively nurturing the tree. Palette choices aid readers with the timeline and the cast of characters: the old and young versions of Nell wear a mustard-colored dress. Wynter's text sings with the economy and elegance of a poem, and specificities delight ("a leaf flecked with holes"). Miyares's (Night Walk to the Sea, rev. 9/21) illustrations, which capture light especially well, reflect the wonder of family, friends, the outdoors -- and the magnificence of a tree that began when "Nell picks up a seed." Julie DanielsonJanuary/February 2023 p.71 (c) Copyright 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.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Linked stories about the planting and multigenerational use of one tree unfold in rhythmic verse. Before children reach for the branches and climb a tree, Nell, a young Black child, holds a seed. Before awestruck children find a nest filled with eggs and watch them hatch, Nell plants the seed. Before children race from the house to the tree, before a child finds a perfect spot for reading under the tree, before sacks of pecans are collected and sweet pies are baked, Nell nurtures the seedling with sunlight and water, then plants the tree. Playful, lovely text alternates between quickly flowing verses on spreads with the children at their grandmother's home and slower, methodical verses accompanying images of a young Nell planting the tree. As Nell grows from a young mother to a grandmother, with the same white house in the background, the tree also grows and grows until it shelters several generations of Nell's family. Readers will delight in watching as time goes back and forth, showing connections between past and present in nature and in the family. Pen-and-ink, gouache, and collage illustrations in a muted, nature-inspired palette give a slightly old-fashioned, atmospheric feel to this rich portrayal of an African American family rooted to the land. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Gorgeous images and text chronicle joyful childhood experiences--a future classic. (author's and illustrator's notes) (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
