Wonderful. A stunning, breathtaking achievement.
A plethora of mammals, reptiles, birds, and more fills this striking alphabet book.
There’s a cat, an elephant, a robin, and others that are instantly recognizable, along with several that are slightly familiar, like a badger, an iguana, and a lemur. A nautilus, a xenopus, and a urial are exotic and possibly completely unknown to many child readers. Each animal is presented in a double-page spread. Upper- and lowercase letters in a serif typeface and a modified cursive appear at the top of the verso page, within faint lines that might be seen on a school handwriting chart or practice exercise. A large uppercase letter fills the center of the page, with a design and color that mimics the illustration of the animal. Somewhere on the page is a silhouette of the animal, most often in light beige. The animal’s name is printed in a thin sans-serif at the bottom of the page. There is no other text. Evans’ depictions of each animal on the recto page go far beyond simple illustration. They are sharply delineated, deeply textured digital woodcuts, almost three-dimensional and touchable. The creatures’ eyes are incredibly expressive, gazing directly at readers as if offering their souls for inspection. The zebra on the book’s jacket is an exact duplicate of the one on the last page, with the addition of slightly raised texture that cries out for a reader’s delicate touch.
Wonderful. A stunning, breathtaking achievement. (illustrator's note) (Picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4413-3463-3
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Peter Pauper Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
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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