No Nibbling!

November 29, 2021
Derwood, a pince nez–wearing billy goat, seems a preternaturally calm gardener. With his planting done, he sits in a chair atop the freshly tilled ground with a cup of tea in his lap: “Wait. Grow, grow,” writes Ferry (Swashby and the Sea). And grow the garden does: in Kang’s (My Big Bad Monster) watercolor-like digital pictures, which are as meticulous as the story’s protagonist, the early pages’ spare compositions give way to a sylvan festival of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and squash. But the garden also brings out the anti-pest curmudgeon in Derwood, and he’s soon tangling with a persistent bunny named Tabitha. Her attentiveness and politeness resonate with the lonely goat (she hangs on to every word as he expounds on the nuances of precipitation), but her slips into vegetable wordplay—“Mama said I’d butter bean home soon”—seems to reveal nefarious nibbling intentions. Is Tabitha’s innate rabbitiness a friendship deal-breaker? With the lightest of touches, the creators show how the give and take of friendship is itself a kind of cultivation, and that the results can be highly nourishing. Ages 4–7. Agent (for Ferry and Kang): Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties.

February 1, 2022

PreS-K-The cover shows a grumpy goat glowering at a small defenseless bunny. The endpapers set up readers further with images of vegetables with clear bites out of each of them. Then the story. Farmer Derwood takes gardening very seriously. He digs, hoes, seeds, waters, and waits for his garden to grow. All the while, a curious little bunny, Tabitha, watches as he works. Spying a dandelion, Derwood approaches only to find it is a cottontail attached to Tabitha. He knows that the bunny will want veggies from the garden. How can she get anything, though, with Derwood's suspicious eyes always watching her? Each time Tabitha comes to visit, she throws a spoonerism or two into the conversation. Instead of "let us" she says "lettuce." Or "stalk" for "walk." Instead of "I am," she says, "I yam." Wordplay and a surprising plot twist will keep children engaged in this lovely book. The author upends all Peter Rabbit-like expectations with an unforeseen friendship and a shared dinner. Expressive illustrations show every endearing nibble toward det�nte. VERDICT These respectful friends have come a long way, in a compelling story of preconceived notions turned on their heads. For everyone.-Joan Kindig

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2022
A goat who loves to garden knows how to grow an un-beet-able crop. Derwood works hard on his garden. One day he sees what he thinks is a dandelion puff; it's actually the tail of a little bunny named Tabitha. Derwood ejects her from his garden and tries to dissuade her from returning by telling her he's not growing food; instead, he's performing experiments on the soil. A few weeks later, she comes back; she's grown up, and so has Derwood's garden. He tells her emphatically there can be no nibbling. "Okey dokey," Tabitha agrees. "Lettuce talk about something else." She persists in veggie-related puns but denies it each time Derwood points it out. Finally, Tabitha offers to help Derwood weed, and he takes that opportunity to relax...until she discovers a fuzzy, white dandelion and calls it a wish. Derwood knows what she has been wishing for all along and finally grants it: some nibbling. They share a veggie feast, to which Tabitha responds: "Thank you very... MUNCH!" Ferry's tale of budding friendship with vegetable wordplay (all highlighted with different colored text) is sweet and funny. Kang's soft, cartoonish illustrations, a mix of spot and full-bleed with some speech bubbles thrown in for emphasis, are colorful, and the animals are appealingly expressive. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Adorable...and appetizing. (Picture book. 2-7)

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