A solid primer on fostering human-feline relations.
A young Twitter and Instagram sensation imparts whiskery wisdom.
Kidd and his mother, Braunigan, who created the social media accounts “I’ve Pet That Cat” on the heels of Kidd’s older brother’s “I’ve Pet That Dog,” offer advice and information aimed at helping youngsters cozy up to kitties. With ample colorful and inviting line drawings by Hoffmann, the book begins with a chapter on how to go about petting a strange cat, then covers how to approach, where to pet (stay away from the belly), and even how to pick up the cat if things are going well. Kidd and Braunigan provide sound guidance on interpreting cat sounds and body language and explain some feline behaviors. There is a brief history of cat-human relations and several short biographies of famous or heroic cats. Instructions for choosing and caring for a cat and an interview with a cat expert follow. A quiz helps the reader discover their cat personality, and there’s a log to keep track of the cats encountered. The book is dotted with “Tips From Nigel” and “Feline Facts,” and myth busters disprove common misconceptions (no, cats don’t actually enjoy milk). The artwork depicts a diverse group of people interacting with cats.
A solid primer on fostering human-feline relations. (sources) (Nonfiction. 6-12)Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68369-314-7
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many.
Young Raina is 9 when she throws up for the first time that she remembers, due to a stomach bug. Even a year later, when she is in fifth grade, she fears getting sick.
Raina begins having regular stomachaches that keep her home from school. She worries about sharing food with her friends and eating certain kinds of foods, afraid of getting sick or food poisoning. Raina’s mother enrolls her in therapy. At first Raina isn’t sure about seeing a therapist, but over time she develops healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her stress and anxiety. Her therapist helps her learn to ground herself and relax, and in turn she teaches her classmates for a school project. Amping up the green, wavy lines to evoke Raina’s nausea, Telgemeier brilliantly produces extremely accurate visual representations of stress and anxiety. Thought bubbles surround Raina in some panels, crowding her with anxious “what if”s, while in others her negative self-talk appears to be literally crushing her. Even as she copes with anxiety disorder and what is eventually diagnosed as mild irritable bowel syndrome, she experiences the typical stresses of school life, going from cheer to panic in the blink of an eye. Raina is white, and her classmates are diverse; one best friend is Korean American.
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-545-85251-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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
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