Uneven artwork aside, this exploration of water’s vital presence in an arid environment is sure to please.
If you’re thirsty in the middle of the Southwestern desert and you have claws, feathers, or fur, where do you go?
To a welcome water-filled depression worn into bedrock: the tinaja. As soon as the desert begins to cool with the setting of the scorching sun, sounds of rustling signal the stirring of creatures making their ways among the growing shadows. Timid quails, grunting javelinas, cautious mule deer, yipping coyotes, jackrabbits, foxes, bats, and rattlesnakes—each takes a turn for a drink, always watching for a dreaded hawk or prowling cougar. As the sun rises, heating the land, the animals shelter in the shade and wait for the evening once again. Bissonette’s poetic narrative, sprinkled with alliteration, leads readers seamlessly from one desert denizen to another. “A mountain lion approaches….It circles the tinaja with a slow sort of swagger.” Clarifying information bites regarding each featured element or animal accompanies the text. Inexplicably, the pronunciation of tinaja, a Spanish word, is not included anywhere. Weiler wraps the cooling landscape in purples, oranges, and blues. However, some depictions of the desert dwellers are inaccurate. The mountain lion resembles a domestic cat, and the javelinas are depicted with fur instead of bristles; others, such as the ringtail cat and foxes, are spot-on.
Uneven artwork aside, this exploration of water’s vital presence in an arid environment is sure to please. (author's note, bibliograrphy) (Informational picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-8075-7949-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020
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
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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