  | Full Text Reviews: School Library Journal - 04/01/2017 PreS-K—Hector loves acorns, and he keeps a huge assortment of them in his desk at school. When his classmates discover his stash, they make fun of him. Hector's kindly teacher invites him to explain why he collects them, and he expounds on his passion, showing off all the different kinds of acorns he has accumulated: "They're all different, and they're all the same, and they're all beautiful." Many of the other students have treasured items of their own—pennies, stuffed animals, baseball cards—and from there the narrative segues into a look at larger collections, such as the Museum of Natural History. Graegin's illustrations depict a group of anthropomorphic animals (Hector is a dog, his teacher is a giraffe, and his classmates include a pig, a skunk, a bear, and a fox), all round heads and soft lines. With references to the book's New York City setting (yellow taxi cabs, the New York Public Library), the visuals give the tale a gentle feel that matches the simple, matter-of-fact text. Curator and art historian Beeny ends with a brief author's note on the wide variety of collections out there (the Louvre, the Frick, the New York Transit Museum). VERDICT Though this slight, sweet story could be used to prepare young children for a visit to a museum or art collection, it is probably best shared one-on-one with budding collectors, who will appreciate Hector's curatorial eye and fascination with seemingly ordinary objects found in the natural world.—Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal - Copyright 2017 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Booklist - 06/01/2017 In this sweet story, a young, overalls-clad pup named Hector finds wonder in one of autumn’s most ubiquitous offerings: the acorn. While walking to school one morning, he picks up an acorn and admires its brown color and knobbly cap. Soon he’s pocketing acorns everywhere he goes—green ones, squat ones, skinny ones—and stashing them in his school desk until there’s room for nothing else. When his teacher conducts an impromptu inspection, Hector’s hoard is discovered, but rather than scolding him, she announces that Hector is a collector. Soon his classmates begin describing their own collections, and this idea grows to encompass a library’s books and the art at a museum. By moving from personal to public assemblages, Beeny helps young readers grasp the concept of collecting, uniting all through the repeated refrain, “They were all different. They were all the same. They were all beautiful.” Graegin complements the story with gentle illustrations populated by cute, clothed animals eager to learn about the world’s unique offerings. - Copyright 2017 Booklist. Loading...
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