Quality narrative and a treasure trove of details and images.
A collection of brief stories featuring animals and plants living in forests around the world.
While many of the creatures included in this book might be familiar to readers—reindeer, elephants, penguins—the detailed yet digestible stories of each include fascinating facts and helpful blurbs that provide “the science behind the story.” In addition to these animals common to children’s books, Klepeis also includes the lesser-known margay, wood frog, and kauri tree. Some of the more remarkable facts include the wood frog’s incredible cold-weather survival skills such as freezing itself nearly solid. There’s also the baobab tree’s impressive storage skills—some 26,000 gallons of water! Because each story is only a few pages long, with balanced text and image, it’s very approachable for young readers who might only read one section at a time. Adam’s detailed illustrations work well with the text and provide plenty for readers to observe. One impressive image features the stunning aurora borealis casting its glow on the snowy forest. Klepeis manages to discuss both climate change and deforestation with a subtle hand while still clearly showing humans’ effects on animals and their fragile habitats. This book is full of information and illustrations that will appeal to readers of all ages and is sure to be revisited by readers often.
Quality narrative and a treasure trove of details and images. (glossary, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781684493111
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Neon Squid/Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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