Picture Book

Golden Gate: Building the Mighty Bridge

"Making playful use of language, Partridge’s immersive, meticulously detailed second-person narration pairs seamlessly with Heck’s intricate, realistic images for a child’s-eye glimpse of the whole thrilling process. Endpapers beautifully mimic the iconic bridge, with close-ups on the reddish-orange steel... A riveting look at an iconic landmark and architectural feat."

Kirkus Reviews, STARRED Review!

"Mixed media illustrations capture the “fog and wind and pounding surf” that are the constant companions of the workers as they pour concrete, string cables, and blast bedrock... A well-researched and excellent addition to STEM classes and library collections."

School Library Journal, STARRED Review!

"Heck divides the spreads horizontally throughout. Larger views above show construction workers at work on various parts of the bridge (“Workers climb/ and clamber, reach, jump, and swing—acrobats/ suspended between water and sky”), while a narrower ribbon below shows the entire site with new additions in the bridge’s signature vermilion, a device that makes every stage of the project clear."

Publishers Weekly

“As the two children lead the inaugural crowd surging onto the finished bridge to the sound of foghorns on a May day in 1937, it’s hard not to join in the giddy rush.”

Booklist

"Composition and perspective are especially effective in the mixed-media art, with spreads layering expansive shots of the bridge and bay, stretching across the pages, and close-ups, hemmed by the children’s telescope’s lens, of worker activity. Laid over red-orange paper, the illustrations have some red seeping through even the more ocean and sky-focused scenes, giving the pages an almost inner-glow... an immersive read."

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Heck’s textured art, varied compositions, and striking color choices provide the appropriate mood and gravitas for the accomplishment of such a noted architectural wonder and historical landmark.”

The Horn Book

"The mixed-media illustrations of this towering picture book give a sense of vista and scale, while also revealing the children’s keen, ongoing interest. A more detailed image along the bottom of each spread exhibits the current stage of work being done in the context of the landscape or from a blueprint perspective."

Cooperative Children’s Book Center

A Is For Bee: An Alphabet Book in Translation

"Kaleidoscopic and delightful. Any lover of language, or any child who likes new sounds, will be entranced.

The New York Times

“A gorgeous collection for linguists of all ages."

Booklist, STARRED Review!

“Against richly colored backgrounds, the black-and-white scratchboard illustrations dramatically employ contrast and texture. Hand-lettered display type enhances the visual drama and zestfully celebrates the multiplicity of animal names. Cleverly, each letter is hidden somewhere in the composition of its illustrated page, adding an A-to-Z seek-and-find element for children… Combining visual verve with a sense of our worldwide connectedness, this both teaches and entertains.”

Kirkus

“An entertainingly subversive take on the usual alphabet book.”

Five Books, Best Books of 2022

Sunflower Seeds

"Heck’s understated text conveys the narrator’s awe, expressed in precise descriptions of the flowers in all their phases. She offers ample space for readers to admire her paintings, done in thickly applied oil. The brown paper backdrops lend warmth to the characters’ skin tones and act as negative space that defines Heck’s compositions, often to startling effect. The backgrounds also contrast with the textured strokes of yellow and gold, set against heartbreaking blues; they cannot help recalling van Gogh, though these blooms are never confined to a vase. Gorgeous."

Kirkus Reviews, STARRED Review

"Steadily paced narration that maintains a sense of awe is scientifically detailed and deliberate, and thickly applied oil paint on brown paper gives the yellow-tinged illustrations a diorama-like dimensionality reminiscent of van Gogh’s sunflower paintings. When the bloom yields upwards of a thousand seeds spilled across a spread, the whole cycle seems poised to occur again, and a concluding moment knowingly nods to the power of a good book for kicking off something new."

Publishers Weekly

"Heavy strokes of bright oil paint on brown paper give a warm glow to the rich illustrations, dramatically presenting the growth process and the blooms. In a fun homage, a poster of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers hangs on the classroom wall. Just as the narrative presents the plant’s cycle, the book itself is circular too: it begins with a story about planting sunflowers, and in the end the child is in a library, getting a new book. Who knows what topic he may explore next?"

Booklist