Fact-filled fun for any child drawn to canines.
When 11-year-old Gideon was 8, he started the website IvePetThatDog.com and began posting a picture with every dog he met—by now over 1,000 dogs. The mother-son team now follows up with this informal guide to meeting and caring for dogs. Starting with how to safely pet a dog, they then cover canine body language, good places to encounter dogs, and several stories about heroic and inspirational real dogs. Mascots, therapy dogs, guide dogs, and rescue dogs are described in amusing detail. The text is peppered with vignettes, trivia, and useful tips for young dog lovers. Other sections cover adoption, caring for your dog, keeping your dog entertained, training, allergies to dogs, and basic care. There’s a silly dog name generator, a personality quiz, and a dog tracker (akin to birders’ life lists). Cheerful, humorous, full-color illustrations and background art add visual interest and feature ethnically diverse humans. Gideon’s infectious enthusiasm for his subject shines out from the engaging and chatty text. Those looking for a dog-care manual will need to supplement with additional information, but this fills an important niche for young dog lovers who may not have a pooch of their own. Those wishing to explore a perennially popular subject will be more than satisfied.
Fact-filled fun for any child drawn to canines. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68369-229-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 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
Pretty but insubstantial.
Zommer surveys various bird species from around the world in this oversized (almost 14 inches tall tall) volume.
While exuberantly presented, the information is not uniformly expressed from bird to bird, which in the best cases will lead readers to seek out additional information and in the worst cases will lead to frustration. For example, on spreads that feature multiple species, the birds are not labeled. This happens again later when the author presents facts about eggs: Readers learn about camouflaged eggs, but the specific eggs are not identified, making further study extremely difficult. Other facts are misleading: A spread on “city birds” informs readers that “peregrine falcons nest on skyscrapers in New York City”—but they also nest in other large cities. In a sexist note, a peahen is identified as “unlucky” because she “has drab brown feathers” instead of flashy ones like the peacock’s. Illustrations are colorful and mostly identifiable but stylized; Zommer depicts his birds with both eyes visible at all times, even when the bird is in profile. The primary audience for the book appears to be British, as some spreads focus on European birds over their North American counterparts, such as the mute swan versus the trumpeter swan and the European robin versus the American robin. The backmatter, a seven-word glossary and an index, doesn’t provide readers with much support.
Pretty but insubstantial. (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: June 4, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-500-65151-3
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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