Marginally informative and painfully superficial.
Arizona is more than a desert, and its desert is more than sand.
From the Grand Canyon to a rich array of wild plants and animals, this Southwestern state is brimming with nature’s treasures. Basic identifying information, such as the state flower and motto, is introduced in tandem with popular tourist attractions, such as the food and the Four Corners Monument. This entry in the Welcome to… series celebrating the states offers detailed, whimsical illustrations to accompany the scattering of pertinent factoids across the pages. (Companion titles on California, Florida, and Texas publish simultaneously.) Regrettably, the humans depicted are all greeting-card cute and identical in their stylized, round faces; racial difference is indicated only via skin color and hair color and texture. Also concerning is the design decision that places a Diné (Navajo) family producing traditional crafts (with nary a modern convenience in sight) directly after the dinosaurs and before Grand Canyon wildlife. The saguaro is featured, but there is no mention of the Tohono O’odham who have been harvesting the fruit for millennia—with the exception of a brief inclusion in a laundry list of Native peoples. Traditional Mexican/Mexican American and Native foods are displayed on a double-page spread with absolutely no allusions to the peoples or cultures. The underlying dismissal of Arizona’s rich pre-Anglo history is implicit in both design and execution. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Marginally informative and painfully superficial. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-17821-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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 solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer.
Rotner follows up her celebrations of spring and autumn with this look at all things winter.
Beginning with the signs that winter is coming—bare trees, shorter days, colder temperatures—Rotner eases readers into the season. People light fires and sing songs on the solstice, trees and plants stop growing, and shadows grow long. Ice starts to form on bodies of water and windows. When the snow flies, the fun begins—bundle up and then build forts, make snowballs and snowmen (with eyebrows!), sled, ski (nordic is pictured), skate, snowshoe, snowboard, drink hot chocolate. Animals adapt to the cold as well. “Birds grow more feathers” (there’s nothing about fluffing and air insulation) and mammals, more hair. They have to search for food, and Rotner discusses how many make or find shelter, slow down, hibernate, or go underground or underwater to stay warm. One page talks about celebrating holidays with lights and decorations. The photos show a lit menorah, an outdoor deciduous tree covered in huge Christmas bulbs, a girl next to a Chinese dragon head, a boy with lit luminarias, and some fireworks. The final spread shows signs of the season’s shift to spring. Rotner’s photos, as always, are a big draw. The children are a marvelous mix of cultures and races, and all show their clear delight with winter.
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3976-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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