An earnest but perplexing tale about ecological preservation.
An unusual circus comes to town.
Colorful bird feathers bearing tickets to the Flying Circus rain down on a village. A flock of birds descends from the sky with a striped circus tent. The townsfolk hand in their tickets and enter. After the lemur ringmaster tells a magical story, a series of images take shape. A swarm of buzzing bees appears, then turns into a waterfall. A forest grows; birds, animals, and fireflies emerge. The tent fills with water and sea creatures. A unicycle-riding, juggling bear dazzles the crowd. A whale leaps through the air; a tiger and other endangered or extinct creatures and plants materialize. Readers learn that the Flying Circus is actually “nature’s messenger asking for help on behalf of the trees, the animals, and every life form.” Departing audience members receive a “precious gift: a seed to plant in the hopes of transforming their wounded world.” The birds that delivered the tent prepare to carry it elsewhere and will leave seeds there, too, to remind successive audiences to cherish the earth. This odd, overlong story, originally published in Belgium and the Netherlands and translated from Dutch, offers a warning about protecting the planet—a laudable message. Unfortunately, the confusing, bizarre imagery and plodding text don’t convey that vital takeaway effectively; the connection between the circus acts and the conclusion feels unclear. Still, the lush illustrations have some appeal. Human characters are mostly light-skinned.
An earnest but perplexing tale about ecological preservation. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9798890630803
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clavis
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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