Bloom Boom!

October 15, 2018
A celebration of flowers in poetry and photographic imagery. Sayre's latest feast for the eye and ear focuses on blooming plants, showing their emergence, their growth, their beauty, and their profusion in certain places and times, especially spring. Very short couplets ("Seeds sprout. / Stems pop out"; "Leaves emerge / stalks surge") are printed in large, legible text directly on each photo, which fills a page or spread. The titular refrain, "Bloom, boom!" follows each couplet. Carefully composed photographs vary in subject and perspective, from fields of flowers to striking close-ups of shoots, leaves, buds, and blossoms. She shows surprising desert blooms, spring wildflowers, garden tulips, and flowering trees. Just when the pattern begins to feel repetitive she begins to include more animals in her images: a bumblebee on a lupine, a chickadee and a butterfly on flowering trees, and a lizard sunning itself, and she changes up her refrain, just once. The California poppies shown close-up on the cover stretch out on a hillside at the blooming, booming conclusion. The rhyme and rhythm of the text invite reading aloud; the pictures show well even across a room. This easy-to-grasp botany lesson is supplemented with backmatter offering older readers more information about the bloom boom and about each photograph. A charming introduction to flowering plants, this is an obvious addition to a nature-themed storytime that can also can be read alone by budding readers. (web resources) (Informational picture book. 3-8)

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2018

PreS-Gr 1-Vibrant, full-page photographs introduce young audiences to the beauty of an array of different flowers. The simple text begins with sprouting seeds and proceeds to show the growth of buds, stems, shoots, and blossoms. Along with the many plants, a variety of small animals are also included. From woodlands to deserts to meadows to forests, each flowering landscape is presented in total glory. The large format allows the images to shine and is perfect for group and lap reading. The repetition of "Bloom Boom" throughout also makes this ideal for read-alouds. Although neither the specific flowers nor their locations are identified within the main narrative, an appendix gives a more thorough explanation of the featured flora and provides some additional information which may be shared with young listeners. VERDICT A lovely, useful work to help acquaint children with the natural world, and an enriching selection for storytime.-Eva Elisabeth VonAncken, formerly at Trinity-Pawling School, NY

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2018
Preschool-G *Starred Review* Award-winning author and photo-illustrator Sayre here reveals the diversity and splendor of flowering plants. Using examples from several different habitats, she offers succinct verses (spanning two or three spreads), illustrated with crisp-edged full-color photographs. For example, "Every spring, across the land . . . / Seeds sprout. Stems pop out. / Bloom, boom!" is illustrated with photos of several desert species: Canterbury bells, desert gold poppies, Arizona lupines, and golden chia. Other stanzas spotlight flowers found in meadows, woodlands, and home gardens, as well as flowering trees and pollinating animals. Each verse ends in the refrain "Bloom, boom!" (signifying an explosion of colorful flowers), except for the pollinator verse, which ends "Welcome, birds and butterflies!" The photos provide a mixture of colors and perspectives: close-ups of bees swerving around wild lupine precede a wide shot of Texas blue bonnets; and the book's final spread depicts a brilliant orange field of California poppies. This title works on multiple levels. The minimalist text, intriguing photos, and predictable refrain make this a perfect choice for preschool story hours. Likewise, the use of proper botanical terms (seeds, stems, leaves, stalks, bulbs, buds, blossoms, etc.) and generous appendixes (offering additional information about the habitats and species depicted) are ideal for primary science lessons. This bloom's a beauty.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)