A sweet, informative journey.
As the seasons change, so does the oak tree—and the animals who live in, on, and beneath it.
“The big, old oak tree stands tall near the empty house.…Many animals have lived here.” This picture book needs plenty of time for reading the text and looking carefully and deeply at the richly colored art. The illustrations are deceptively simple—primitive and childlike, using crayons among other media—but the details go beyond complementing the scientific text. For example, astute readers will see the “sold” sign on the empty house on the verdant, summery initial page. Successive, alternating double-page spreads show first the tree and house on the verso, with brief text that describes seasonal changes in the tree, then present what’s happening at the same time in the life cycles of six winsome animals: raccoon, acorn weevil, opossum, gray squirrel, blue jay, chipmunk. All, even the weevils, are depicted with plenty of personality. With each season, each animal peers out from a frame with several sentences about the animal’s behavior or appearance. Simple sentences teach new vocabulary through context. By springtime, baby animals have joined several of the inhabitants. Extra joy comes from noticing an interracial family of human beings who move in on the autumn pages, peer out snow-flecked windows in winter, plant a garden in spring, and enjoy the outdoors in summer. And is it only the tree’s inhabitants that have added family members? (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sweet, informative journey. (additional facts, glossary, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0236-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer.
Rotner follows up her celebrations of spring and autumn with this look at all things winter.
Beginning with the signs that winter is coming—bare trees, shorter days, colder temperatures—Rotner eases readers into the season. People light fires and sing songs on the solstice, trees and plants stop growing, and shadows grow long. Ice starts to form on bodies of water and windows. When the snow flies, the fun begins—bundle up and then build forts, make snowballs and snowmen (with eyebrows!), sled, ski (nordic is pictured), skate, snowshoe, snowboard, drink hot chocolate. Animals adapt to the cold as well. “Birds grow more feathers” (there’s nothing about fluffing and air insulation) and mammals, more hair. They have to search for food, and Rotner discusses how many make or find shelter, slow down, hibernate, or go underground or underwater to stay warm. One page talks about celebrating holidays with lights and decorations. The photos show a lit menorah, an outdoor deciduous tree covered in huge Christmas bulbs, a girl next to a Chinese dragon head, a boy with lit luminarias, and some fireworks. The final spread shows signs of the season’s shift to spring. Rotner’s photos, as always, are a big draw. The children are a marvelous mix of cultures and races, and all show their clear delight with winter.
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3976-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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