Inspiring examples for fledgling defenders of the environment.
Profiles of 12 young climate activists and three grassroots groups, matched to painted portraits and original poems.
Similar in concept to No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History (2020), by the same creators, but taking a worldwide perspective, these entries highlight successful initiatives undertaken by school-age children in locales from the Marshall Islands to Ukraine and the Americas. Though Greta Thunberg—flashing her magnificent scowl in Bradley’s digital pastel—is the subject of one of the early entries, the other chosen activists will be mostly unfamiliar to readers. The poems are largely identified as free verse, such as one by Traci Sorell that acrostically spells out the name of Indigenous Brazilian tree planter Artemisa Xakriabá, but include examples of less common forms, too, such as a dokugin (or single-author) renga by David Bowles praising Mexica activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, and a Vietnamese-style lục bát by Teresa Robeson commemorating the work of biodiesel-promoting “Grease Police” on Bali. The editors spread prompts for both individual and collective action throughout and add capsule biographies of the poets and descriptions of each kind of poem at the close. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Inspiring examples for fledgling defenders of the environment. (glossary) (Informational picture book/poetry. 6-12)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-62354-313-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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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