Equally suitable for shared or solitary reading and hard to resist either way.
A cranked-up collection of animal facts bookended by big, startling pop-ups of toothy ocean predators.
Going for the gusto from first to last, every inch of this souped-up survey is packed with clamorous claims that caption pop-ups or crawl over and under flaps of diverse shape and size. Arranged around a great white shark’s jagged maw, which lurches toward viewers, melodramatic painted images of over a dozen creatures dubbed “MOST DEADLY!” glare up, each identified with titillating menace: “BRAZILIAN WANDERING SPIDER. This is the most venomous spider in the world! It likes to hide in people’s clothes and shoes.” Other topical spreads gather largest to smallest, fastest to slowest, amazing animal senses, “Egg-streme Eggs,” and a closing miscellany of “Weird and Wonderful!” hangers-on highlighted by an in-your-face look at an anglerfish’s jagged dentifrice. It may be loud, it may be overwhelming, but it’s also strangely compelling, and readers may find themselves going back and forth for more: “A Madagascan Hawk Moth’s tongue is four times as long as your middle finger!” Companion Mechanical Marvels publishes simultaneously and with equal volume.
Equally suitable for shared or solitary reading and hard to resist either way. (Pop-up nonfiction. 7-9)Pub Date: March 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0016-6
Page Count: 18
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure.
It’s not truffles but doubloons that tickle this porcine wayfarer’s fancy.
Funke and Meyer make another foray into chapter-book fare after Emma and the Blue Genie (2014). Here, mariner Stout Sam and deckhand Pip eke out a comfortable existence on Butterfly Island ferrying cargo to and fro. Life is good, but it takes an unexpected turn when a barrel washes ashore containing a pig with a skull-and-crossbones pendant around her neck. It soon becomes clear that this little piggy, dubbed Julie, has the ability to sniff out treasure—lots of it—in the sea. The duo is pleased with her skills, but pride goeth before the hog. Stout Sam hands out some baubles to the local children, and his largess attracts the unwanted attention of Barracuda Bill and his nasty minions. Now they’ve pignapped Julie, and it’s up to the intrepid sailors to save the porker and their own bacon. The succinct word count meets the needs of kids looking for early adventure fare. The tale is slight, bouncy, and amusing, though Julie is never the piratical buccaneer the book’s cover seems to suggest. Meanwhile, Meyer’s cheery watercolors are as comfortable diagramming the different parts of a pirate vessel as they are rendering the dread pirate captain himself.
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure. (Adventure. 7-9)Pub Date: June 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37544-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
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