Another attractive nature book for settings where previous titles have been popular.
A pod of hungry orcas seeking a seal or sea lion see many other creatures in the Great Bear Sea in British Columbia—but not lunch.
This is the fourth in a series of strikingly illustrated titles in a series about the Great Bear Rainforest that features the work of resident photographer McAllister. In a way, it echoes part of the story of its most recent predecessor, The Seal Garden (2018), again documenting the relationship between predator and prey. The pictures are the main attraction. These eye-catching images, in varying sizes from double-page spreads to vignettes, are mostly appropriate to the text, which includes informational nuggets about the animals shown: seals and sea lions, of course, plus grizzly and black bears, a wolf, a fin whale, a shark, a dolphin, some salmon and smaller fish, eagles, puffins, an octopus, sea stars, and more. (Curiously, a pair of shorebirds feeding in one splendid full-page picture isn’t identified.) Telling his story from the orca’s perspective, Read imagines some human thoughts: “The orca is getting frustrated. Where are the seals and sea lions? How will she and her pod fill their bellies if they don’t find something to eat? She decides to look above the water again.” This is consistent with the anthropomorphic tone of the series, which is designed for quite young readers and listeners.
Another attractive nature book for settings where previous titles have been popular. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1273-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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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