An informative, buoyant, and wildly original look at some marine marvels.
In this work of graphic nonfiction, a stubby pink host introduces readers to the other members of a remarkably diverse taxonomic class.
Those who don’t already appreciate the special talents of the four types of cephalopods—octopuses, nautiluses, cuttlefish, and squids—will get both an earful and an eyeful from chatty, pink-cheeked Grimpy (“That’s short for Grimpoteuthis”). The utterly appealing narrator undulates up from the benthic depths to point blunt limbs at various smiling but otherwise accurately rendered relatives while fondly highlighting their intelligence and abilities to disguise themselves by changing shapes and colors, to ooze through the narrowest of gaps, and to escape predators amid billowing inky clouds. Lambelet offers an enchanting blend of whimsy and well-chosen, creatively expressed facts. She covers multiple species, from the Japanese flying squid, which can glide through the air for short distances, to the giant Pacific octopus, which can weigh 100 pounds. And when Grimpy, who can’t fly, glow, change shape, or shoot ink, feels less than special, several cousins gather around to soothingly lay out the unique adaptations that allow dumbos to live at depths of over 23,000 feet, more than twice as deep as any of them. A visual glossary and a photo of the adorably ungainly narrator round off this look at some of the ocean’s more exotic residents.
An informative, buoyant, and wildly original look at some marine marvels. (selected bibliography, further reading) (Graphic nonfiction. 8-10)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9798765661376
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Strong-stomached browsers will lap these up; budding naturalists will find better intellectual nourishment elsewhere.
A dribble of scientific information about everyone’s favorite bloodsucking worm provides a Canadian cartoonist with opportunities for some rousingly icky visual commentary.
The informational text comprises such lines as “Most leeches live in fresh water,” or “Oftentimes, doctors would apply up to 100 leeches per session,” arranged in no discernible order and placed inconspicuously at the bottom of each page. They caption cartoon scenes of a young collector cheerfully dumping a slimy bucketful into his horrified parent’s bathwater, a doctor leaning over a desiccated patient (“Something tells me we might have left these leeches on a bit too long”), a child refusing to enter a pond for fear of the creatures—unaware that her back is covered with them—and other views of comically caricatured leeches and their prey in action or conversation. Though readers will be at least exposed to some basic information about these creatures’ habitats, body parts, dietary habits, reproductive practices and uses in medicine, Sampar’s gross-out gags and comics will definitely make, and leave, the more lasting impression. This outing is published with seven series mates that offer less revolting but no less superficial (and, OK, diverting) introductions to chameleons, crocodiles, crows, porcupines, rats, spiders and toads.
Strong-stomached browsers will lap these up; budding naturalists will find better intellectual nourishment elsewhere. (glossary, index) (Graphic nonfiction. 8-10)Pub Date: March 30, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-55455-318-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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