Children's Books: Maggie O'Farrell's ‘The Boy Who Lost His Spark'
An old rat and a young owl return in a second story of unlikely friendship in 'Orris and Timble: Lost and Found,' by Kate DiCamillo. Luminous soft-edged illustrations by Carmen Mok set off this careful story of mixed signals, hurt feelings and tender reconciliation for children ages 5-8 (for younger ones too, if an adult reads it out loud). Every night, Timble visits Orris in the barn where he lives, and every night the well-read rat tells the owl a story. One evening, moved by a particular tale of devotion, Timble promises that he will always return to his friend. In the same conversation, he wonders whether it's possible to fly to the moon or stars. When Timble fails to turn up the next night and the next, Orris is so stung by the betrayal that he decides to turn his back on his friend, in this second volume of a planned easy-reader trilogy.
In drawings of dazzling intricacy, the illustrator Henry Cole traces the flourishing of a single tree in 'Mighty: The Story of an Oak Tree Ecosystem' a picture book for children ages 4-8. You might think there is nothing more boring than watching a tree grow—unless maybe it's watching paint dry—but Mr. Cole finds tiny elements of visual drama that, combined with his well-chosen text, will carry young readers through the tree's long progress from acorn to seedling to sapling and beyond. In the artwork, children will see how small accidents of fate allow new life to take root—and to take flight, for the mighty oak hosts all sorts of other creatures: insects that eat its blossoms, squirrels that eat its acorns and humans who sit in its shade.
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