Wondrous and wonderful, for reading and thinking and sharing.
A celebration of transitions in the animal world.
The late April Pulley Sayre documents the in-between moments of animal lives in this posthumously published poem and photo album co-authored by her husband, Jeff. In words and pictures, they demonstrate preparations, waiting, anticipation, even some trepidation—animal experiences that their human readers will surely share. Ground squirrels, chipmunks, and raccoons peek out from hiding places. There are takeoffs, flights, and landings featuring a chickadee, a robin, a blue jay, a red-tailed hawk, a wood stork, flamingos, and a whale leaping from the water. Some images show animals in families: robins in a nest, squirrels, Canada geese, two groundhogs. Many depict young animals, not quite prepared to go out in the world, “awkward,” “unsteady,” “almost ready.” A green darner dragonfly still perched on its previous nymph form—“body transformed, / but not yet gliding.” The close-up images are crisp and clear, the word choice is precise, and the poem flows smoothly—April Pulley Sayre has a well-deserved reputation for combining visuals and text to encourage a child’s awe at the natural world, and this exemplary work is a shining example. The animals are not identified, but most will be familiar to young American readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Wondrous and wonderful, for reading and thinking and sharing. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5344-8781-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on.
Sharpson offers so-fish-ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas.
The title says it all. Our unseen narrator is just fine with other animals: mammals. Reptiles. Even birds. But fish? Don’t trust them! First off, the rules always seem to change with fish. Some live in fresh water; some reside in salt water. Some have gills, while others have lungs. You can never see what they’re up to, since they hang out underwater, and they’re always eating those poor, innocent crabs. Soon, the narrator introduces readers to Jeff, a vacant-eyed yellow fish—but don’t be fooled! Jeff’s “the craftiest fish of all.” All fish are, apparently, hellbent on world domination, the narrator warns. “DON’T TRUST FISH!” Finally, at the tail end, we get a sly glimpse of our unreliable narrator. Readers needn’t be ichthyologists to appreciate Sharpson’s meticulous comic timing. (“Ships always sink at sea. They never sink on land. Isn’t that strange?”) His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between extreme realism and goofy hilarity. He also fills the book with his own clever gags (such as an image of Gilligan’s Island’s S.S. Minnow going down and a bottle of sauce labeled “Surly Chik’n Srir’racha’r”).
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593616673
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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