Wild Greens, Beautiful Girl

A child learns about Taiwan’s flora and gains a deeper understanding of family heritage in this lushly illustrated paean to the natural world. In early first-person lines, the young protagonist welcomes a coming typhoon: “It’s good for the sky to cry./ The rain fills our reservoirs, so we can drink,/ and it waters the rice fields and fruit trees,/ so we can eat.” Just before rainfall, the narrator and their mother, ina, harvest ginger root and scallions, and the child pulls up what they perceive as weeds, only to learn that it is dadagum, “a flowering shrub, related to tomato and potato plants.” The wild vegetables, ina explains, “have their own kawas, their own spirit, just like us,/ the Amis people, the original people of Taiwan.” The wet-on-wet effect of Chiu’s limited-palette illustrations feather into roiling black clouds, humid green leaves, and rich gray earth, while plant descriptions and illustrations echo the characters’ rootedness and strength. Mandarin and Pinyin translations accompany the English text, and concluding notes offer context. Ages 6–7. (Aug.)