A delightful voyage well worth taking.
An exploration of the oceans yields stunning discoveries.
A brown-haired, tan-skinned child descends beneath the waves in a wide-windowed Dream Submarine to watch as marine life beds down for the night. What amazing sights there are to behold from that vantage point as the sub sails through the world’s waters. Beautifully colored fish and other marine creatures—some familiar, some likely lesser known—are visible up close in all their glory. Some bear unusual names—soapfish, sweetlips, stargazers, maomao—and some demonstrate intriguing habits (shrimp clean between eels’ teeth; some fish change colors or patterns). Then, there’s a glittery surprise as the submarine dives down and we see a light show with displays of glittery bioluminescence (though that term isn’t used). Children who weren’t previously aware of this underwater phenomenon will be amazed to discover that some sea creatures have the ability to light up because the waters in which they dwell are so dark they must illuminate their own undersea paths. More surprises are in store when the submarine eventually rises from the sea, and the young seafarer surveys the stars in the dark skies above—enough “to make a wish for every fish and each creature in the sea.” This lovely book, expressed in smooth, gentle prose, makes a snuggly bedtime choice. The beautifully colored, crisp, clean digital illustrations capture some fascinating denizens and environs of the deep.
A delightful voyage well worth taking. (map of the Dream Submarine’s voyage, information on the ocean animals depicted in the story, more to explore, ocean zones) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781536224795
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts.
Can knightly deeds bring together a feathered odd couple who are on opposite daily schedules?
Having won over a dragon (and millions of fans) in the Caldecott Honor–winning Knight Owl (2022), the fierce yet impossibly cute nocturnal, armor-clad owlet faces a new challenge—sleep deprivation—in the wake of taking on Early Bird, a trainee who rises with the sun and chatters interminably: “I made pancakes! Do you like pancakes? I love pancakes! Where’s the syrup?” It’s enough to test the patience of even the knightliest of owls, and eventually Knight Owl explodes in anger. But although Early Bird is even smaller than her mentor, she turns out to be just as determined to achieve knighthood. After he tells her to leave, she acquits herself so nobly in a climactic encounter with a pack of wolves that she earns a place at the castle. Denise proves a dab hand at depicting genuinely slinky, scary wolves as well as slipping cheerfully anachronistic newspapers and other sight gags into his realistically wrought medieval settings to underscore the tale’s tongue-in-cheek tone. Better yet, a final view of the doughty duo sitting down together to a lavish pancake breakfast/dinner at dusk ends the episode in a sweet rush of syrup and bonhomie.
An immersive, charming read and convincing proof again that even small bodies can house stout hearts. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780316564526
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
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