For die-hard polar bear fans.
A year in the life of the majestic denizen of the far north.
Originally published in 1996 as The Great Crystal Bear, with illustrations by William Noonan, this edition features all-new artwork from the author. Speaking in poetic second person, the author conveys accurate scientific information, such as the fact that “each hollow hair” of the bear’s fur “gathers sunlight / to heat your black skin and thick layer of fat.” Readers also learn that polar bears’ keen senses of smell attune them not only to nearby neighbors, but also to their favorite food—seals. Only seal skin and blubber are consumed; carcasses are left behind for other Arctic foragers who benefit from polar bears’ hunting skills and cunning. (The seal attacks are described vividly but depicted bloodlessly.) So goes the year. When the ice melts as spring and summer beckon, polar bear groups jockey for dominance and mates, and food becomes scarce. With the arrival of fall and winter again, expanding ice abets hunting. The target audience may tire of the lengthy, ponderous narrative, in which solid information is sometimes obscured. The highlight here is the striking collage artwork, comprised of gouache hand-painted cut papers. The illustrations impart a palpable sense of the bear, its habitat as it changes seasonally, and other wildlife.
For die-hard polar bear fans. (author’s notes, map) (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: June 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63322-502-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Seagrass/Quarto
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Norma Dixon’s Lowdown on Earthworms (2005) digs deeper into the subject, but this lays fertile groundwork for budding...
Beginning readers who tunnel through this upbeat first introduction will “dig” them too.
After an opening look at several kinds of worm (including the candy sort), McCloskey drills down to the nitty-gritty on earthworms. He describes how they help soil with their digging and “poop” (“EEW!”) and presents full-body inside and outside views with labeled parts. He also answers in the worms’ collective voice such questions as “Why do you come out after the rain?” and “How big is the biggest worm in the world?” that are posed by a multiethnic cast of intent young investigators in the cartoon illustrations. A persistent but frustrated bluebird’s “Yum, yum!!” and rejected invitations to lunch offer indirect references to worms as food sources, and reproductive details are likewise limited to oblique notes that worms have big families “born from cocoons.” Single scenes mingle with short sequences of panels in pictures that are drawn on brown paper bags for an appropriately earthy look.
Norma Dixon’s Lowdown on Earthworms (2005) digs deeper into the subject, but this lays fertile groundwork for budding naturalists. (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: April 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-935179-80-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: TOON Books & Graphics
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2015
Another feather in McCloskey’s cap.
Budding naturalists who dug We Dig Worms! (2015) will, well, coo over this similarly enlightening accolade.
A curmudgeonly park visitor’s “They’re RATS with wings!” sparks spirited rejoinders from a racially diverse flock of children wearing full-body bird outfits, who swoop down to deliver a mess of pigeon facts. Along with being related to the dodo, “rock doves” fly faster than a car, mate for life, have been crossbred into all sorts of “fancies,” inspired Pablo Picasso to name his daughter “Paloma” in their honor, can be eaten (“Tastes like chicken”), and, like penguins and flamingos, create “pigeon milk” in their crops for their hatchlings. Painted on light blue art paper—“the kind,” writes McCloskey in his afterword, “used by Picasso”—expertly depicted pigeons of diverse breeds common and fancy strut their stuff, with views of the children and other wild creatures, plus occasional helpful labels, interspersed. In the chastened parkgoer’s eyes, as in those of the newly independent readers to whom this is aimed, the often maligned birds are “wonderful.” Cue a fresh set of costumed children on the final page, gearing up to set him straight on squirrels.
Another feather in McCloskey’s cap. (Graphic informational early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: April 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-935179-93-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: TOON Books & Graphics
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016
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