Plant a Kiss

In what may be a first, Rosenthal and Reynolds demonstrate the benefits of sharing kisses far and wide--without showing a single person-to-person kiss. Rosenthal's (Duck! Rabbit!) verse is stripped down to the bone, yet retains a singsong nursery rhyme quality, while Reynolds (Someday) illustrates in his signature lithe, clean-lined style. After "Little Miss planted a kiss"--she digs a hole and kisses the soil--the girl waters her planting and waits, at first patiently, and then with "doubt" and a "pout." At last her kiss sprouts, and a swirling fountain of polka dots and glitter emerges. Carrying her shimmering kisses in a bowl, the girl shares them generously with others until her supply is depleted. She gets a lovely surprise when she returns to her garden and sees a geyser of kisses rising from the ground, more vivid and sparkly than ever. The punchy rhymes and abstract visualization of kisses keep things from feeling too heavy-handed or saccharine; Rosenthal and Reynolds's collaboration should leave readers considering the rewards of simple gestures. Agent: Amy Rennert Agency. Illustrator's agent: Pippin Properties. Ages 4-8. (Jan.)

PreS-Gr 1--A clever play on words can only sustain a story for so long, and a weak one even less so. In this oh-so-sweet short rhyming tale, a girl digs a hole, then smooches the ground, literally planting a kiss. With her mostly patient care, this odd "seed" sprouts--a small fountain of pink and yellow dots and textured glitter. Other children gather to witness the unusual crop. In forced rhymes, they try to talk the girl out of distributing her harvest, but to no avail. Scooping up the swirling substance into an enormous red bowl, she travels the world, bestowing this odd gift on a diverse cast of children. Her diaphanous offering trails glitter throughout the pages until the bowl empties. She then returns to the "plant" and discovers that it's grown into a bright yellow entity, a source of "endless bliss." Though Reynolds's distinctive cartoonish illustrations are delightfully expressive, they fail to make up for the flat, strained story. Muddled messages about sharing and imaginative play detract from the plot and confuse readers. Lackluster, despite the glitter overload, and trying too hard to please, this book lacks the effortless charm of Rosenthal's Little Pea (Chronicle, 2005) or Reynolds's Ish (Candlewick, 2004). Libraries with the most devoted Rosenthal and Reynolds fans might want this for their collections; at best, it's an additional purchase for everyone else.--Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY