Sweet—really: Animal lovers will find much to appreciate here, and report writers are well served.
Maligned and malodorous…but oh, so interesting.
Skunks may not be everyone’s favorites, but they are fascinating. They live cozily in dark burrows deep underground. Kits, born while the weather is still cold, are fed and well protected by their mothers; as summer approaches, the youngsters emerge outside with “Mom” under cover of darkness and begin to forage independently. With fall’s arrival, they prepare for winter dormancy. As for those noxious aromas that make for skunks’ off-putting reputation? Before relying on their ultimate weapon, skunks actually give predators and other mischief-makers a variety of advance warnings. Readers may be surprised to learn that the unwelcome sprays of smelly musk are given off only when other warnings go unheeded; afterward, unfortunate would-be attackers have learned not to target this prey again. The smoothly written, gentle narrative explores the life of a family from birth in early spring to the kits’ independence in late fall. Unfamiliar vocabulary is italicized; definitions appear in a glossary. The endearing digital illustrations, embellished in aqua crayon, have the chalky appearance of oil pastels, which highlights the skunks’ furriness. The primarily dark backgrounds, softened with some bright touches, effectively cast the skunks’ black-and-white coats into sharp relief, the deep shades also reinforcing the striped creatures’ nocturnal existence.
Sweet—really: Animal lovers will find much to appreciate here, and report writers are well served. (author’s note, glossary, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62979-877-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Another playful imagination-stretcher.
Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.
As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.
Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781339049052
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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