Children's ✦ Penny’s Take
Maple & Willow Together
Lori Nichols · 2014
85/100
👍 Worth It
Starred reviews from both Kirkus and Booklist are not awarded lightly, and this one earns them — Lori Nichols captures the specific tenderness and friction of sibling life with spare, honest prose and pencil illustrations that are genuinely beautiful. The conflict-and-repair arc is handled with emotional intelligence that feels true to young children without being sentimental. One of the stronger picture books in its category; families with multiple children will return to it.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety98
substance80
craft90
originality78
accuracy88
hype88
age-fit92
human-eye86
Penny’s verdict85
Cross-pollinate