A good, green read.
A fanciful approach to raising children’s consciousness about conservation.
Rhyming text introduces the titular conundrum with the opening line, “There’s a Rang-tan in my bedroom,” delivered by a child with brown skin and straight, dark hair. Accompanying colorful art shows an orangutan wreaking havoc in the child’s home—throwing away chocolate, howling at shampoo—until the child finally asks why the animal is there. The following pages, set in a forest, switch perspective, with the orangutan’s narration: “There’s a human in my forest, and I don’t know what to do.” The text goes on to explain that the human presence in the rainforest is linked to clear-cutting in order to grow palm trees for palm oil used in products like chocolate and shampoo. (These facts are also detailed in both a foreword by actor and conservationist Emma Thompson and the backmatter, which specifies Indonesia as the place where orangutans live in the wild.) Now the child knows what to do: organize! Moved by the orangutan’s plight, the child writes letters to corporations asking them to curb deforestation, and backmatter provides readers with practical, accessible steps to do the same. Preston-Gannon’s illustrations feature characters both human and animal with big, round eyes and soft outlines; the scenes of bulldozers laying waste to the forest are unsurprisingly upsetting. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.5-by-21-inch double-page spreads viewed at 18.4% of actual size.)
A good, green read. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-62371-873-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crocodile/Interlink
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers.
Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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