A busy redwood outing that will nevertheless stir readers’ curiosity.
High among the coast redwoods, there exists a world within a world.
These towering giants known as redwood trees, which line a stretch of land that hugs the Pacific Ocean, hold various other plant and animal life “high in their branches, hundreds of feet above the ground.” Called a canopy, this secluded world is home to shrubs such as elderberry and gooseberry and ferns mats “soggy and heavy,” as well as sow bugs and pill bugs, “the only crustaceans that live on land,” and Humboldt flying squirrels. McLennan’s trunks-to-lichens tour of the redwoods takes readers on a vivid voyage of discovery. Two narrative threads compete for readers’ attention throughout the book, co-existing on the same spread. One narrative thread is carried in “House That Jack Built”–like verse that grows the further readers delve in; each page turn brings in a new image to name, a new shade of color to the hidden world. The other narrative, meanwhile, offers up facts for readers, interpreting each pictorial scene in reader-friendly scientific terms. However, both verse and facts fail to jell well on the page, with the informational bits often disrupting the poetic flow. Thanks to the vibrant, earthy pictures, the redwoods’ immensity and swarming life of the canopy are the highlights. Backmatter aimed at sparking “creative minds” adds opportunities to consider further.
A busy redwood outing that will nevertheless stir readers’ curiosity. (activities, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64351-350-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Arbordale Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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
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