A launch pad for learning more about monarchs.
A close-up look at the 3,000-mile fall monarch butterfly migration to overwintering grounds in Mexico.
An opening spread shows a difficult-to-recognize distended North American continent, several orangish-white lines extending from the north and converging in Mexico. The text notes that it takes monarchs traveling north in the spring four generations to reach their destinations, but monarchs that hatch in the fall make the trip to Mexico in one go. From this opening, swirling, twirling orange-and-black butterflies fill the pages of this informative yet lyrical book. Challenging vocabulary will stretch readers’ own wings: kaleidoscope, nectar, roost. Pryor doesn’t shy away from the fact that not all will survive: Lack of resting spots and adequate food as well as storms are issues. The backmatter delineates other threats, things readers can do to help monarchs, the life cycle and anatomy of a monarch, information about milkweed, info about monarch migration and a map, and an author’s note. Here the text also notes that “insects change form as they grow in a process called metamorphosis,” which is true for only about 80% of species. While the picture-book format may be young for the audience that matches the text’s language, it’s a good springboard for further research into monarch migration for older students and a good stretch for younger ones. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A launch pad for learning more about monarchs. (Informational picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9781546003137
Page Count: 40
Publisher: WorthyKids/Ideals
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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
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
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