A rather flat compilation of tree and forest legends and myths accompanied by stolid illustrations.
Myths and legends surrounding trees and forests make up this picture book.
Seventeen tree species from around the world and four forests (Madagascar’s Alley, or Avenue, of the Baobabs, Sherwood Forest, the Amazon rainforest, and the Black Forest) are introduced to readers via the myths and legends associated with them. Each double-page spread features a substantial illustration accompanied by text that includes a brief notation about the height of the tree in metric units (or trees in the case of the forest entries) and notes whether it is deciduous or evergreen as well as other qualities before relaying the myth or legend associated with it. Several of the entries read like (and are remarkably similar to) the Wikipedia entries on the same subjects. Illustrator Alonso’s color illustrations, in a bright but hardly nature-hued palette, have a stylized, silk-screened look. With their flat shapes and saturated color, they come across as quite heavy and impassive. While several illustrations depict people of many ethnicities and cultures, some don’t illustrate the tree the text is addressing, which may be frustrating to readers who may not know what, say, a hawthorn tree looks like. The book’s final illustration, a double-page spread, does show and label each tree in a forestlike arrangement, which is handy for height and spatial comparison.
A rather flat compilation of tree and forest legends and myths accompanied by stolid illustrations. (Picture book/folklore. 5-10)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-42-3
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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
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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