A lyrical story for nature-loving readers, told with reverence for the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest.
Imagine taking an early morning walk to a sea garden—the intertidal habitats cultivated by First Nations peoples to increase biodiversity and provide sustainable seafood harvesting.
“If you want to visit a sea garden… / …you’ll have to get up really early.” Using gentle, second-person narration, Weisman describes what readers would find if they were lucky enough to visit one of these reefs, which have existed for thousands of years along the Pacific Northwest coast. The sights and sounds of the shore are rendered in poetic detail throughout the text, from the “symphony of clams…exhaling” to the barnacle-encrusted rocks. Most compelling are the descriptions of the human community that has gathered around them: “generations of First Peoples who…have come here to build and care for the sea garden, harvest and clean clams, and share knowledge and stories.” The sea gardens’ significance to First Nations peoples is at the heart of this story, shining a light on Native brilliance and their continued existence. Deft use of shapes, silhouettes, and color in the bold, graphic images emphasizes what a “special place” these reefs truly are. Families who value #ownvoices stories will be glad to learn that the manuscript was vetted by Kwaxsistalla Wathl’thla Clan Chief Adam Dick and illustrated by renowned Indigenous artist Vickers, whose heritage includes T’simshian, Haida, Heiltsuk, and English ancestors. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.5-by-20.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 27.5% of actual size.)
A lyrical story for nature-loving readers, told with reverence for the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest. (author's note, acknowledgements, photographs) (Informational picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-55498-970-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude.
A deceptively simple, visually appealing, comprehensive explanation of volcanoes.
Gibbons packs an impressive number of facts into this browsable nonfiction picture book. The text begins with the awe of a volcanic eruption: “The ground begins to rumble…ash, hot lava and rock, and gases shoot up into the air.” Diagrams of the Earth’s structural layers—inner and outer core, mantle, and crust—undergird a discussion about why volcanoes occur. Simple maps of the Earth’s seven major tectonic plates show where volcanoes are likeliest to develop. Other spreads with bright, clearly labeled illustrations cover intriguing subtopics: four types of volcanoes and how they erupt; underwater volcanoes; well-known volcanoes and historic volcanic eruptions around the world; how to be safe in the vicinity of a volcano; and the work of scientists studying volcanoes and helping to predict eruptions. A page of eight facts about volcanoes wraps things up. The straightforward, concise prose will be easy for young readers to follow. As always, Gibbons manages to present a great deal of information in a compact form.
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude. (Nonfiction picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4569-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
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
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