Striking illustrations, but sometimes light on factual details. (Informational picture book. 3-7)
Australian animals are ever-intriguing, and this large-format picture book provides a visually stunning experience for young armchair travelers and their elders.
Most of the double-page spreads feature two often-related animals (bottlenose dolphin and great white shark, for instance), although a few splendidly concentrate on one animal. There are also several spreads with four different animals. Bancroft, an Aboriginal artist who has created textiles, fashions, paintings and illustrations in many picture books, uses eye-popping colors, concentric circles, pointillist dots, zigzagging lines and other elements of Australian indigenous art to portray animals and their environments in highly stylized forms. An undulating ribbon of changing color runs through the book, uniting the pages; each animal’s name appears on this wide stripe that cuts each page in two. Occasionally, as on the cockatoo and galah spread, readers may be confused by the labels, as both pages include examples of each avian species. The kangaroo and wallaby page is also difficult to decipher, as the animals are similar, and the illustrator has mixed them together. More sophisticated readers may enjoy the visual puzzle. Descriptions of each animal, in alphabetical order, are given at the end, but the two or three sentences sometimes do not provide enough information, as in the case of “reef life,” and should be supplemented with other sources.
Striking illustrations, but sometimes light on factual details. (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-921714-25-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Little Hare/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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