Heal the Earth

March 1, 2018
Following Touch the Earth (2017), young readers are invited to fly on further missions of mercy to our beleaguered planet and its residents.A feather converts with a tap on the image of a button in the right-hand corner of the spread and a page turn to a White Feather Flier (named after Lennon's charitable White Feather Foundation) that transports, in Coh's misty, painted pictures, a thoroughly diverse quartet of children to a variety of troubled places. They visit in succession a town whose residents lack medical services, a bleached coral reef, a drab urban neighborhood, and a clear-cut rainforest. At every stop, further taps on a button image bring instant relief: The Flier becomes a mobile hospital; "zooks" (zooxanthellae, depicted as tiny green cells with smiley faces) return to give the reef color and life; the city gets a new green space; and the devastated forest's flora and fauna are restored to lush life. Following vague exhortations to "work together" and to "make healing an adventure," Lennon concludes with six solo-credited stanzas of similarly airy sentiment: "Come together, see it through, / End disease and hunger too. / Help the children, one and all. / Winter, Summer, Spring, and Fall." Thoughtfully, the humans in need are depicted as diverse and not uniformly brown; slightly less thoughtfully, one of the two brown-skinned children among the helpers is depicted with knotted hair that recalls the pickaninny stereotype.Relentlessly facile--but if action ever begins with goal visualization, at least a place to start. (author's note) (Picture book. 5-7)

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March 5, 2018
The creators of Touch the Earth present another “healing adventure” aboard the fanciful White Feather Flier—a vehicle that changes shape and function while traveling the planet on environmental and humanitarian missions. As in its predecessor, this mildly interactive book invites readers to join the Flier’s young cartoon passengers by pressing a printed “imagination power button” and tilting the book up (to take to the air) or down (to dive underwater). As the vessel morphs from plane to mobile hospital to submarine to tractor to boat, the kids deliver medicine to children in a remote location, help a coral reef recover from the effects of climate change, plant a city garden, and join reforestation efforts in the jungle. Though it provides minimal information about the causes of these dire scenarios, the affable text congratulates readers at every stop (“Wow! You made the rain forest return!”), offering a streamlined vision of the rewards of doing one’s part. Set against a backdrop of calming teal tones, Coh’s cheering matte pictures portray Earth’s dramatic healing in bursts of vivid color. A concluding singsong poem echoes the rallying cry of Lennon’s tale, which should spark productive dialogue. Ages 3–6. Authors’ agents: Robert Gottlieb and Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Trident Media Group. Illustrator’s agency: Bright Agency.

May 1, 2018

Gr 1-3-Healing the world's ills is the mission of this gentle outreach to young children. The authors successfully engage readers in their cause without raising any alarm bells. Instead, they employ an age-appropriate, interactive format where kids are asked to touch a button icon to "travel" to the earth's trouble spots, including places without accessible medical care, oceans now in danger due to climate change, cities lacking sufficient green space, and disappearing rain forests. There is no call for activism-just a solid introduction to the idea that caring for our planet is a shared responsibility. The imaginary means of travel is a white feather flyer, the origin of which is explained by Lennon in the back matter. Coh's soft hues and playful cartoon illustrations set a pleasing tone, and the spare text delivers an impactful message with just the right dose of seriousness for the intended audience. VERDICT Suitable for Earth Day or for conversations about working together for the common good.-Gloria Koster, West School, New Canaan, CT

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