Goodnight, Veggies

January 20, 2020
This rhythmic journey through a rooftop vegetable garden settling down to sleep names the varied inhabitants of a well-stocked plot—“tossing, turning veggies/ need to get some rest.” A smiling pink worm wearing a jaunty newsboy cap and a single tube sock and shoe acts as a friendly guide through each spread, hopping and slinking from a pea-pod tent through raised beds. Signature illustrations by OHora (Who Wet My Pants?) simply anthropomorphize the vegetables described in the text by Murray (Unicorn Day), which occasionally plays on vegetables’ characteristics: the worm zooms through dirt while smiling potatoes close their eyes and corn “covers up its ears.” As darkness descends, “every veggie’s snoozing,/ beneath the moon so bright,/ for nothing’s more exhausting/ than growing day and night.” The produce-list narrative may be light, but the snuggled-in vegetables and sweet, lilting text offer an effectively snoozy bedtime rhyme. Ages 4–7. Author’s agent: Brianne Johnson, Writers House. Illustrator’s agent: Sean McCarthy, Sean McCarthy Literary Agency.

January 15, 2020
Even veggies get tired, it seems. Illustrator OHora's adorable anthropomorphic veggies star in this bedtime ramble. The illustrations, appropriately created with 100% vegetarian paper and acrylic paint, portray veggies in brilliant realistic colors with thick, black-line details that pop against a pale sky or textured brown earth. A pink-segmented worm guide with a rakish hat and one sock and sneaker winds its way through an urban rooftop community garden as day ends, visiting every veggie preparing for bed or "snoozing, / beneath the moon so bright, // for nothing's more exhausting / than growing day and night." In Murray's playful rhyming text, "tuckered-out tomatoes" hum lullabies, cauliflowers cuddle, "beets are / simply beat," and "celery is snoring / as sunset disappears." With just two to nine words per page, the story makes for quick reading, but its steady rhythm, whimsical rhymes, abundant alliteration, and hand-lettered sleep-appropriate sounds to share like "zzzzz" and "snore! snore!" extend the read-aloud experience. The illustrations are equally charming, smiling faces on most of the vegetables matching the worm's grin. One rhubarb stalk improbably holds a book, reading aloud to some broccoli. The eggplants are revealed to have expansive dreams! Familiar garden creatures also hide in plain sight on most garden spreads. The human gardener, seen tangentially at the beginning of the story, has brown skin. A bedtime veggie feast for the eyes and ears. (Picture book. 3-6)

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February 14, 2020

Toddler-PreS-The sun has set over a rooftop urban garden, and the tuckered-out veggies are just about ready to go to bed. From a bird's nest to an underground home, a worm weaves its way through the patch. Each full spread illustration features one or two vegetables, from tomatoes to rhubarb, with a single sentence that describes the anthropomorphized veggies. Appropriately, the original paintings were created with vegetarian acrylics. With a steady path for the eye, the gradual change to predominantly dark colors, and the soothing use of alliteration, this book will lull readers towards the same state as the characters. Even if it should not, they may learn a thing or two about vegetables. VERDICT For early school age children, this works both as an introductory lesson on different types of vegetables, and as a bedtime story.-Rachel Forbes, Oakville Public Library, Ont.

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