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MILKWEED FOR MONARCHS

Name: MILKWEED FOR MONARCHS
Author: Christine Van Zandt
ISBN: 9781506489308

by Christine Van Zandt ; illustrated by Alejandra Barajas ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

Informative in both pictures and words.

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Migrating monarch butterflies must have milkweed.

This colorful title presents the development of monarch butterflies, from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to flight and migration. Van Zandt uses a dual text—lyrical quatrains supplemented by exposition in a smaller typeface—set on bright, animation-style illustrations. A female monarch returns from a southern winter to seek out a place to lay her eggs. The author emphasizes the butterfly’s need for milkweed to provide for the next generation. What stands out are the in-depth, step-by-step descriptions and illustrations of the stages of the monarch’s development. Notably, Van Zandt mentions the ways milkweed defends itself against monarch caterpillars. Beginning with a panorama of monarchs leaving, presumably, Mexico or California, Barajas then uses close-up angles to show details of the egg laying and hatching, the changing caterpillar and chrysalis colors, and a newly hatched butterfly’s crumpled wings, ending with a smaller group of monarchs flying away. Early on, Van Zandt makes clear that monarch migration extends over four generations. She ends with a note describing her own developing interest in monarchs, the threats they face (including habitat loss, which makes finding milkweed more challenging), ways young readers can help, and fun facts about butterfly senses. This is familiar ground in picture books as well as early science education, but it’s an engaging introduction nonetheless.

Informative in both pictures and words. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 4-8.)

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781506489308

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Beaming Books

Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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FIND MOMO EVERYWHERE

From the Find Momo series , Vol. 7

by Andrew Knapp ; illustrated by Andrew Knapp ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
LET'S FIND MOMO!
by Andrew Knapp ; photographed by Andrew Knapp

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WHAT IF YOU HAD AN ANIMAL HOME!?

From the What if You Had . . .? series

by Sandra Markle ; illustrated by Howard McWilliam ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2024

Another playful imagination-stretcher.

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Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.

As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.

Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)