Taking Time

PreS-Gr 1--Mixed-media illustrations offer a soft focus view of children in multiple environs around the world. In specific landscapes, each child is shown doing something different. One child delicately smiles and snuggles a husky dog in the snow, while another gazes at a flock of jungle parrots. One child rides a camel; another one watches women in ankle-length dresses fish with nets at the shore. Each page provides one sentence that begins "Taking time to," and the final celebration page is filled with all the children under a blossoming tree, taking time to "cherish you, and also cherish me." VERDICT The story celebrates the virtues of various places. Teachers can encourage students to describe specific things that bring them joy.--Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA

The phrase "taking time to" begins each line of this book's rhyming verse, a gentle reminder to stop and appreciate the natural world. Digital spreads by Loring-Fisher (Maisie's Scrapbook) place children of varied cultural and ethnic backgrounds among misty planes of texture and pattern. An orange and black bird perches in a tree, its beak open. "Taking time to listen to/ a bird's song on the breeze," the poet writes, as a girl with brown skin and a long black braid looks up, the basket in her hand forgotten. Another child stands under a cherry tree whose petals fall like snow: "Taking time to gather up the blossom dancing free." Still another stands with a seashell to their ear, "Taking time to imagine/ the deep sounds of the sea"; brightly clad figures wielding nets stand in the ocean beyond. Sources of light vary, too: a campfire, leaf-filtered sunlight, a curtain-framed window. Round-the-world books sometimes assume that a location in the English-speaking world is "home"; this one unites the children in a schoolyard that could be almost anywhere, and a world map identifies each child's place of origin. Ages 5-8. (Apr.)

Children around the globe marvel at the simple, stunning beauty encountered in moments of everyday life. Author/illustrator Loring-Fisher has created something truly special with this picture book. Each double-page spread includes one line of text and a stunning mixed-media illustration. The illustrations are deeply saturated with color and respectful in their inclusive representations of multicultural children and the cultures, landscapes, and living creatures that make up their sensory worlds. The text on adjacent spreads form couplets, creating a read-aloud experience that is pleasing for both reader and listeners: 'Taking time to listen to a bird's song on the breeze. / Taking time to gather up the blossom dancing free.' The final spread shows all of the children sharing their wonderings, playing peacefully together in a beautiful green space. This image and the closing line, 'Taking time to cherish you, and also cherish me, ' provide a hopeful close to the book's celebration of the natural, spontaneous mindfulness of children. The endpapers extend the options for interactivity by encouraging readers to match small details from the illustrations with each child's home, including Alaska, Ecuador, the U.K., Norway, Russia, Egypt, Tanzania, India, Nepal, China, and Japan. Adults will benefit every bit as much as young readers (if not more!) from these reminders to pause and notice. A must-have for anyone sharing books with young children—simply exquisite.—starred, Kirkus Reviews