While this effort is a thoughtful and well-meaning introduction to the use of therapy dogs for children in this situation,...
This Canadian import focuses on Iggy, a therapy dog who assists children in a program in Toronto as they participate in investigations of child abuse.
Iggy is a black Lab with soulful, brown eyes and a gentle demeanor. He is called a “facility dog” at the social services program where he works. The dog and his handler meet with children who are victims of child abuse, accompanying the children when they testify in court or when they meet with police officers or doctors. The sensitively written text does not specifically address instances of abuse but instead refers to children speaking about “what happened to you” and the difficulty of testifying in court near “the person I didn’t want to see or talk in front of.” While Iggy is a real dog, the children in the photographs illustrating the story are models portraying the victims of child abuse. The children are of different ethnicities and range in age from preschool to high school age. The first-person text is rather confusing at first, as it is written as though one specific child is the narrator. However, the illustrations show many different children as the story progresses, with each one contributing to the narrative.
While this effort is a thoughtful and well-meaning introduction to the use of therapy dogs for children in this situation, it’s probably best suited to specific use in programs similar to Iggy’s. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: April 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77260-084-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Second Story Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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