Neither fish nor fowl…
Some readers might be familiar with birds that remove troublesome insects from large animals’ hides and maybe with wrasses and other animals that remove parasites from larger fish, but most will not have been exposed to the range of species and complexity of interactions that are described in this innocent-seeming picture book.
Each double-page spread consists of an introduction and brief paragraphs and illustrations arranged across the pages, Dorling Kindersley–style. The light-colored, humorous watercolor sketches of animals in their habitats have joke headings and speech balloons, and there are some funny sketches such as a hippo that gives a ride to a turtle and a heron. But the text of some of the spreads seems far too sophisticated for the age group for which the illustrations are apparently intended. A spread on bees and plants uses higher-level vocabulary—“Diligent pollinators” reads one heading—and kids reading this would certainly need an adult on hand to explain concepts and words. The approach seems problematic; nerdy kids with a real interest in interspecies interaction may find the illustrations too low-level to be engaging, and kids who enjoy the artwork may well not be able to understand the text. It almost feels like a high school chapter on symbiosis masquerading as a children’s picture book.
Neither fish nor fowl… .(Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-912006-48-9
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Scribblers/Sterling
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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
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
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