ALA Booklist (Thu Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2021)

From debut author and illustrator Zhang, this is the enchanting story about the power of words. Lala cannot be still, even on one of the hottest days in the city. Her frustrated mother has almost had enough of Lala's wild nature. Only in Lala's special garden, a patch of dirt with weeds, is she finally still and quiet, whispering kind words to encourage her green friends to grow til her mother forbids her from visiting the garden. Zhang's story demonstrates how talking to plants helps them grow, especially when a child with boundless energy showers them with kindness and compassion. Lala is a sympathetic character whose mother is always upset with her for playing in the dirt, but her mother makes up for it by accepting her special girl in the end. Zhang's charming black-and-white hand-drawn illustrations pop with yellows and greens as the plants overtake the concrete jungle. The lack of color demonstrates to readers the importance of green space to an urban setting, a nod to the similarly themed classic City Green, by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan.

Kirkus Reviews

A small girl, full of energy and color, brings her love of nature to a dull gray city.In the heat of the heavy, hot summer, everyone in a black-and-gray–hued city is still…except for Lala, in an effervescent yellow dress, who's jumping, running, and tripping across the page. Her exasperated mother does not understand this whirlwind of energy, frowning at a floor covered in clutter or exclaiming about dirt tracked on the floor. Blithe Lala, however, loves nothing more than to visit an empty lot around the corner, where she tends to the weeds and scraggly plants-rendered in vibrant greens with yellow highlights-whom she considers friends. But on the hottest day of summer, when her mother finally forbids her to step foot outside, "Lala cried and cried. Who would visit her little friends?" She sends her love out to the plants in whispers all day, and the next morning, the neighborhood wakes to a miraculous sight. A giant green plant now covers the entire neighborhood with its shade! More importantly, Lala's neighborhood now also glows the same bright yellow as Lala's dress, and her mother recognizes her inner light. Zhang's message extolling the benefits of tending to nature is a bit too on the nose, but her use of only two colors-yellow and green-against a gray city to convey the exuberance of Lala's love and the rejuvenating force of nature is lovely. Lala and her mother both have straight, black hair and skin the white of the page.Lala's enthusiasm blossoms on the page. (Picture book. 3-7)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

Lala, an active child, knows instinctively how to speak words of love to living beings. -Lala, stay still!- her mother says. But when Lala talks to the weeds she nurtures in a nearby vacant lot, she uses different words than her mother-s, and she says them a different way. -You are stripy and lovely,- she murmurs, belly down in the dirt, her face buried in a bright new seedling. Newcomer Zhang-s ink lines capture Lala-s city neighborhood in animated, expressive brushstrokes-the child-s yellow dress and the green leaves of the plants stand out in an otherwise black-and-white world. -You-re covered in dirt!- her mother cries when Lala returns. It-s hot, and her mom-s patience is wearing thin: -Today you are staying at home,- she orders. Lala listens to neighborhood sounds (-She counted buses wheezing past, listened to Mr. Piatek hum to his radio-) and longs for her plants, whispering to them across the distance: -Hello, hello, friends.- And a small miracle comes to pass as Lala-s plants show her what she means to them. Zhang-s powerful debut lifts up the power words have to heal and feed. Ages 4-8. Agent: Hannah Mann, Writers House. (July)