A solid starting point for learning about birds.
A plethora of facts to whet bird-watchers’ appetites.
From defining a bird and investigating migration to exploring woodpeckers’ habits (and tongues!), the process of gliding, why geese fly in a V and birds sing, and how birds make their nests, this is a pretty wide-ranging look at bird behavior. The format is a mixture of cartoons, speech bubbles, sticky notes, and taped-in notes and diagrams that help break up the lengthier text in between and explain the trickier science such as thermals. The author’s tongue is firmly in cheek, asking, for instance, if woodpeckers use game cameras to find insects in a tree. The illustrations pick up on this, but many times the fictions in the pictures are not pointed out as such. For example, migrating birds are pictured with packed bags, and chaffinches, which use spiderwebs in their nest building, are shown offering their thanks to a spider. The pages aren’t always arranged according to specific topics, which can be confusing. A page featuring a large sticky note about waterbirds and seabirds includes info about owls and long-tailed tits (which aren’t even pictured). The humorous cartoons are sure to attract kids’ interest, though, and there are many amazing facts that kids can pull out to impress. Backmatter includes four profiles of national birds (U.S., India, New Zealand, and Nigeria) and thumbnails of 12 other nations’ national birds, all of which feature beautiful photos. Humans in the art are diverse.
A solid starting point for learning about birds. (make your own bird feeder) (Nonfiction. 5-10)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 9781486725649
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Flowerpot Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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