A true story of a baby tiger’s brush with death from starvation is an opportunity for learning about graphs. T.J., a Siberian Tiger born at the Denver Zoo, stopped eating after the sudden death of his mother. The staff tried offering all sorts of tempting food to whet his appetite, but he refused everything. After five days, they had no choice but to force-feed him by putting food at the back of his tongue and using a stick to push the meat in. After 11 days, the cub began to eat and now is larger than his father. T.J.’s story is written on the right-hand pages of the book and the graphs and their explanations are on the left. The reader can read the complete story without referring to the left-hand pages that contain the graphs and the additional text that explains them. Different kinds of graphs track a variety of data. A bar graph measures how much meat T.J. ate each day. A line graph shows T.J.’s weight loss. A picture graph compares tigers in the wild, and a circle graph shows the same information in another form. Interesting photographs taken at the Denver Zoo detail every aspect of the story. They show T.J. as a three-pound cub with his mother. When he needs hospitalization, they show how he is force-fed. As he recovers, photos show him playing with zoo staff, and finally as an adult sitting in his pool at ZooMontana. A delightful way to learn math. (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-8050-6248-3
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2000
The author of Babe, the Gallant Pig (1985) offers another winner with this tale of a bright pig and her canny young keeper “training” a spoiled princess. When Princess Penelope demands a pig for her eighth birthday, her over-indulgent father requires every pig keeper in the country to assemble with a likely porcine candidate. The princess settles on Lollipop, who turns out to be the sole possession of penniless orphan Johnny Skinner. As only Johnny can get Lollipop to sit, roll over, or poop outdoors, soon lad and pig are comfortably ensconced together in a royal stall—at least until the pig can be persuaded to respond to the Princess’s commands. It’s only the beginning of a meteoric rise for Johnny, and for Lollipop too, as the two conspire to teach the princess civilized manners, and end up great favorites of the entire royal family. Barton (Rattletrap Car, p. 504, etc.) captures Penelope’s fuming, bratty character perfectly in a generous array of line drawings, and gives Lollipop an expression of affectionate amusement that will win over readers as effortlessly as it wins over the princess and her parents. Move over, Wilbur. (Fiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7636-1269-3
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2001
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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