A truly amazing look at how to cherish nature and build a greener community.
Natural beauty is sacrificed in the name of more space.
Miss Leoparda sleeps in a tree and drives a bus that takes her fellow animals wherever they need to go. One day, she and her passengers see a “little black car coughing up smoke.” As the days pass, more and more cars fill the road, and bus ridership declines. Miss Leoparda stops driving her bus; soon, her tree is cut down to make room for more roads. As the paths get more crowded and the cars continue “huffing and puffing clouds of smoke, stuck in an endless traffic jam,” much to the frustration of the beastly drivers, Miss Leoparda patiently regrows her tree. She also takes to the road on a bicycle, prompting the other citizens to abandon their cars in favor of the greener option. This humorous fable, translated from Russian, explores how our obsession with so-called progress leads to gentrification and the destruction of our communities and the environment. The acrylic and crayon illustrations capture the beauty of untouched land and the dark, crowded vistas of clogged roadways. The expressive, Jon Klassen–like visages of the wildlife perfectly encapsulate the emotions felt by those in similar situations, from the disassociation required by riders on crowded public transit to the exasperation of being stuck in endless traffic.
A truly amazing look at how to cherish nature and build a greener community. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781592704125
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers.
Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
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