Lively, visually inviting introduction to peculiar appellations assigned to animal groups.
In this companion to A Loveliness of Ladybugs (2020), Broderick expands her look at collective nouns to a new group of animals.
Beginning with a “wisdom of wombats” and closing with a “rumba of rattlesnakes,” each of the 16 collective animal nouns included receives double-page treatment with a definition, pronunciation, and visual illustration linking the animals to their group name. The presentation for a “bouquet of hummingbirds” reveals hummingbirds fluttering around a vase like “an arrangement of flowers,” reflecting the definition of bouquet as exactly that. Similarly, the wide-eyed raccoons used in a “gaze of raccoons” peer from behind tree trunks, perfect examples of gaze as “a long, fixed look.” Likewise, the raucous illustration of wildly honking geese for a “gaggle of geese” visually confirms gaggle as a “noisy group.” A “constellation of sea stars” fits the five-armed echinoderms scattered across the ocean floor in the shape of the Big Dipper, a “race of roadrunners” suits speeding roadrunners, and a “squadron of pelicans” works for aviating pelicans. Aided considerably by the fluid, brightly colored, clever illustrations, the rationale behind most of the collective nouns seems obvious; however, the connection between name and animal group in other examples—for instance, “journey of giraffes,” the titular “wisdom of wombats,” or “troop of kangaroos”—is less than apparent, and readers will wish there were background information explaining their originations.
Lively, visually inviting introduction to peculiar appellations assigned to animal groups. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5037-5708-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sunbird Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on.
Sharpson offers so-fish-ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas.
The title says it all. Our unseen narrator is just fine with other animals: mammals. Reptiles. Even birds. But fish? Don’t trust them! First off, the rules always seem to change with fish. Some live in fresh water; some reside in salt water. Some have gills, while others have lungs. You can never see what they’re up to, since they hang out underwater, and they’re always eating those poor, innocent crabs. Soon, the narrator introduces readers to Jeff, a vacant-eyed yellow fish—but don’t be fooled! Jeff’s “the craftiest fish of all.” All fish are, apparently, hellbent on world domination, the narrator warns. “DON’T TRUST FISH!” Finally, at the tail end, we get a sly glimpse of our unreliable narrator. Readers needn’t be ichthyologists to appreciate Sharpson’s meticulous comic timing. (“Ships always sink at sea. They never sink on land. Isn’t that strange?”) His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between extreme realism and goofy hilarity. He also fills the book with his own clever gags (such as an image of Gilligan’s Island’s S.S. Minnow going down and a bottle of sauce labeled “Surly Chik’n Srir’racha’r”).
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593616673
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
A boon for beaver storytimes or young naturalists living near beaver streams.
Readers learn about a keystone species and the habitat they create.
In a “House That Jack Built” style (though minus the cumulative repetition), Sonenshine introduces children to beavers. Beginning with a beaver who’s just gnawed down a willow near their lodge, the author moves on to the dam that blocks the stream and protects their domed home and then to the yearlings that are working to repair it with sticks and mud. Muskrats and a musk turtle take advantage of the safety of the beavers’ lodge, while Coyote tries (and fails) to breach it. Then the book turns to other animals that enjoy the benefits of the pond the beavers have created: goose, ducklings, heron, moose. While the beavers aren’t in all these illustrations, evidence of them is. And then suddenly a flood takes out both the dam and the beavers’ lodge. So, the beavers move upstream to find a new spot to dam and build again, coming full circle back to the beginning of the book. Hunter’s ink-and–colored pencil illustrations have a scratchy style that is well suited to the beavers’ pelts, their watery surroundings, and the other animals that share their habitat. Careful observers will be well rewarded by the tiny details. Beavers are mostly nocturnal, which isn’t always faithfully depicted by Hunter. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A boon for beaver storytimes or young naturalists living near beaver streams. (beaver facts, glossary, further resources) (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1868-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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