A solid, accessible reference book that is fun to peruse.
A series of activities offers simple directions for specific ways that kids can interact with the outdoors.
A chaotic but appealing table of contents lists the many single-spread topics, which include ways to observe nature (“Window Camera”), ways to help preserve nature (“We Need Bees!”), and how to create carefully controlled entertainment in the great outdoors (“Campfires,” “Outdoor Cooking,” and “Obstacle Courses”). From constructing careful environments for “minibeast” observation to making bark rubbings, the directions are always clear and simple. Along the way, animals (and a couple of mushrooms) remind children via speech bubble of proper, mindful behavior and of when an adult must be present during an activity. A notebook icon sometimes appears with further suggestions for writing or drawing. Badgers, hedgehogs, and general vocabulary indicate this German import’s European genesis, as does a note about shutting gates behind you when roaming in the countryside. Otherwise, the art and text translate well to many North American settings. Facts surface, such as the differences between deciduous and evergreen and between centipede and millipede, but the book’s strength lies in the many ways offered to enjoy the outdoors while being mindful of other life forms. The color-block illustrations are full of people with varied skin tones and hair types. Aerial views of a multicultural woodland band and a campfire gathering are particularly appealing.
A solid, accessible reference book that is fun to peruse. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-3-89955-843-2
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Little Gestalten
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Enthusiastic and direct, this paean has a lovely ring to it.
Former National Youth Poet Laureate Gorman invites girls to raise their voices and make a difference.
“Today, we finally have a say,” proclaims the first-person plural narration as three girls (one presents Black, another is brown-skinned, and the third is light-skinned) pass one another marshmallows on a stick around a campfire. In Wise’s textured, almost three-dimensional illustrations, the trio traverse fantastical, often abstract landscapes, playing, demonstrating, eating, and even flying, while confident rhymes sing their praises and celebrate collective female victories. The phrase “LIBERATION. FREEDOM. RESPECT” appears on a protest sign that bookends their journey. Simple and accessible, the rhythmic visual storytelling presents an optimistic vision of young people working toward a better world. Sometimes family members or other diverse comrades surround the girls, emphasizing that power comes from community. Gorman is careful to specify that “some of us go by she / And some of us go by they.” She affirms, too, that each person is “a different shape and size,” though the art doesn’t show much variation in body type. Characters also vary in ability. Real-life figures emerge as the girls dream of past luminaries such as author Octavia Butler and activist Marsha P. Johnson, along with present-day role models including poet and journalist Plestia Alaqad and athlete Sha’carri Richardson; silhouettes stand in for heroines as yet unknown. Imagining that “we are where change is going” is hopeful indeed.
Enthusiastic and direct, this paean has a lovely ring to it. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593624180
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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