An attractive, well-illustrated tale that examines coral reef ecology.
This picture book introduces children to undersea creatures through an angelfish’s travels.
Jamie, a queen angelfish, wants to take readers along as she meets other aquatic animals and swims around “our ocean park,” a coral reef, hoping to meet a shark. Humans will naturally need to don flippers and a mask to accompany Jamie, but once they do, they can explore all the lovely things underwater, such as corals, sponges, many kinds of fish, and other sea creatures. These are described in rhyming verse; a moray eel, for example, “has fang-like teeth / that hold very tight. / It may hurt a little / if he gets a bite.” Jamie finally spies a shark and helps redeem the animal’s scary reputation: “They’re not interested in us when other food can be found, / while they clean up the ocean as they move around.” Finally, the work urges readers to safeguard the oceans, giving some practical tips on how kids can help (by reducing plastic use, for example). This book by the Pechters (Skyward Bound, 2017, etc.), a husband-and-wife team of underwater photojournalists, is packed with many gorgeous pictures of beautifully colored and patterned creatures. (Morton Pechter died in 2008.) A useful table of contents identifies each denizen of the deep with name, page number, and a snapshot. Altogether, this pleasing display rewards long gazing and helps the lessons about oceans, sea creatures, and environmental protections go down easily.
An attractive, well-illustrated tale that examines coral reef ecology.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-947239-25-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Best Publishing Company
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist.
This follow-up to How To Read a Story (2005) shows a child going through the steps of creating a story, from choosing an idea through sharing with friends.
A young black child lies in a grassy field writing in a journal, working on “Step 1 / Search for an Idea— / a shiny one.” During a walk to the library, various ideas float in colorful thought bubbles, with exclamation points: “playing soccer! / dogs!” Inside the library, less-distinct ideas, expressed as shapes and pictures, with question marks, float about as the writer collects ideas to choose from. The young writer must then choose a setting, a main character, and a problem for that protagonist. Plotting, writing with detail, and revising are described in child-friendly terms and shown visually, in the form of lists and notes on faux pieces of paper. Finally, the writer sits in the same field, in a new season, sharing the story with friends. The illustrations feature the child’s writing and drawing as well as images of imagined events from the book in progress bursting off the page. The child’s main character is an adventurous mermaid who looks just like the child, complete with afro-puff pigtails, representing an affirming message about writing oneself into the world. The child’s family, depicted as black, moves in the background of the setting, which is also populated by a multiracial cast.
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5666-8
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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