An educational story to inspire young readers to become environmental change-makers.
McGee’s children’s book offers a joyful and hopeful introduction to protecting the superheroes of the sea.
Students in a classroom gather to listen to listen to guest speaker Dr. Sylvia Earle, an esteemed oceanographer, scientist, and explorer. The class is soon captivated as she explains how the sea is, believe it or not, filled with “superheroes”—beings with unique, amazing capabilities. These aquatic marvels, almost always shown smiling, are brought to joyous life through the bright and vivid palette of Halionka, the book’s illustrator. The racially diverse students are likewise depicted as smiling, wide-eyed, and enraptured as Dr. Earle shares extraordinary facts about a series of sea creatures including the oyster, octopus, and starfish. In her discussion of how oysters clean and filter water, Dr. Earle’s presentation shifts as she emphasizes the importance of these sea creatures and their need for our protection. She points out, “The more we interfere with their habitat, the less they can protect us.” Dr. Earle deems those who decide to help the oceans’ inhabitants as “Wave Makers” and encourages everyone to become involved. Later that day, one of the students is inspired and eagerly asks her mother if they can visit the beach; she’s determined to become a Wave Maker as soon as possible (she has to wait until the weekend). When finally there, faced with the vastness of the ocean, she contemplates how to begin her journey as a Wave Maker. Expertly mixing engaging facts with a solid narrative throughline, the book has high re-readability value. Younger readers may want to linger on the facts and illustrations, or feel moved to visit a beach and participate in conservation efforts themselves. At the end of the book the author includes a useful glossary, five practical tips for making an immediate environmental impact as a young Wave Maker, and links to online resources for further reading.
An educational story to inspire young readers to become environmental change-makers.Pub Date: June 3, 2024
ISBN: 9798989797707
Page Count: 41
Publisher: More Lemonade
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Haphazard but jolly enough for one outing; it probably won’t last for more.
A flurry of mail addressed to Duncan’s crayons ushers in the Christmas season in this novelty spinoff of the bestselling The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) and The Day the Crayons Came Home (2015).
Actual cards and letters are tucked into envelopelike pouches pasted to the pages; these are joined in some cases by other ephemera for a package that is likely to invite sudden, intense play followed by loss and/or damage that will render the book a disappointment to reread. That’s probably OK, as in contrast to the clever story that kicked this small series off, this outing has a hastily composed feel that lacks cohesion. The first letter is addressed to Peach from Mom and includes a paper doll of the “naked” (de-wrappered) crayon along with a selection of tabbed changes of clothing that includes a top hat and tails and a bikini top and bottom. Peach’s implied gender fluidity does not mitigate the unfortunate association of peach with skin color established in the first book. The sense of narrative improvisation is cemented with an early page turn that takes the crayons from outdoors snow play to “Feeling…suddenly very Christmas-y, the crayons headed inside.” Readers can unpack a box of punch-out decorations; a recipe for gluten-free Christmas cookies that begins “go to store and buy gluten-free cookies”; a punch-out dreidel (turns out Grey is Jewish); a board game (“six-sided die” not included); and a map of Esteban (aka Pea Green) and Neon Red’s travels with Santa.
Haphazard but jolly enough for one outing; it probably won’t last for more. (Novelty. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-51574-6
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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