A cleverly told, engaging portrayal of an indomitable woman.
Maine librarian Hinrichs profiles 102-year-old Virginia Oliver, “the oldest person lobstering in Maine, and maybe even in the world!”
The Lobster Lady rises before dawn, eats breakfast, and sets out with her adult son Max to her boat (named Virginia after her years ago). Out on the water they pull their traps, measure and sort the lobsters, and band the claws of the keepers. When Virginia sets aside a crab, it claws her, and the injury requires stitches. The doctor’s tactless question—"What were you doing out there anyway?”—prompts a flow of memories: spending childhood summers on the Neck, an island where her father ran a store and blacksmith shop; returning the rest of the year to live with her aunts and grandparents on the mainland and attend school; learning to helm a boat; marrying a lobsterman; and doing various jobs but finally joining him on the water. The backmatter offers more information about the subject, changes in the industry and community, two simple recipes, and sources, including numerous admiring media accounts. This inspiring story is set on full-bleed images done with chalk pastel on roughened paper that convey a strong sense of the waterwoman’s world, the boats, the sea, the sky. Even more than the matter-of-fact text, the saturated illustrations chronicle Oliver’s long life and convey a rich sense of history. Most characters present White. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A cleverly told, engaging portrayal of an indomitable woman. (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9781623543938
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
Another playful imagination-stretcher.
Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.
As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.
Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781339049052
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort.
A look at the unique ways that 11 globe-spanning animal species construct their homes.
Each creature garners two double-page spreads, which Cherrix enlivens with compelling and at-times jaw-dropping facts. The trapdoor spider constructs a hidden burrow door from spider silk. Sticky threads, fanning from the entrance, vibrate “like a silent doorbell” when walked upon by unwitting insect prey. Prairie dogs expertly dig communal burrows with designated chambers for “sleeping, eating, and pooping.” The largest recorded “town” occupied “25,000 miles and housed as many as 400 million prairie dogs!” Female ants are “industrious insects” who can remove more than a ton of dirt from their colony in a year. Cathedral termites use dirt and saliva to construct solar-cooled towers 30 feet high. Sasaki’s lively pictures borrow stylistically from the animal compendiums of mid-20th-century children’s lit; endpapers and display type elegantly suggest the blues of cyanotypes and architectural blueprints. Jarringly, the lead spread cheerfully extols the prowess of the corals of the Great Barrier Reef, “the world’s largest living structure,” while ignoring its accelerating, human-abetted destruction. Calamitously, the honeybee hive is incorrectly depicted as a paper-wasps’ nest, and the text falsely states that chewed beeswax “hardens into glue to shape the hive.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort. (selected sources) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5625-9
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
