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OK GO

Name: OK GO
Author: Carin Berger
ISBN: 978-0-06-157666-9

by Carin Berger and illustrated by Carin Berger ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2009

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Berger follows the success of New York Times Best Illustrated Little Yellow Leaf (2008) with a book for little tree-huggers. She fittingly uses recycled materials to create her stylized collages, at first depicting a few cars puffing exhaust against a light-blue background emblazoned with the word: “GO!” As she incorporates more cars into successive illustrations, she shifts the background to darker shades of blue and gray, while repeating “GO!” across the double spreads. This visual commentary on the fast pace of contemporary society and the environmental impact of cars and fossil fuels is powerful in its simplicity and accessibility. After screeching to a “STOP!” the text on the four facing pages of the closing double gatefold shifts from spare to perhaps intertextual in nature: Echoes of Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” resound in the myriad suggestions for slowing down the pace of life and conserving resources: “Use the bus, Gus,” “Recycle, Michael,” and so on, thus bringing the recycling ethic not only to her pictures but to her words as well. (environmental tips, resources) (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: May 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-06-157666-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NIGHT GARDEN
by Carin Berger ; illustrated by Carin Berger

- BOOK REVIEW
A CURIOUS MENAGERIE
by Carin Berger ; illustrated by Carin Berger

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL OF US
by Carin Berger ; illustrated by Carin Berger

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BERRY MAGIC

by Teri Sloat & Betty Huffman & illustrated by Teri Sloat ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2004

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Sloat collaborates with Huffman, a Yu’pik storyteller, to infuse a traditional “origins” tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast’s akutaq—described as “Eskimo ice cream,” though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard—young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then sings and dances them to life. Away they bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. Despite obtrusively inserted pronunciations for Yu’pik words in the text, young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana’s infectious delight. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)

Pub Date: June 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-88240-575-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
ZIP! ZOOM! ON A BROOM
by Teri Sloat ; illustrated by Rosalinde Bonnet

- BOOK REVIEW
PABLO IN THE SNOW
by Teri Sloat ; illustrated by Rosalinde Bonnet

- BOOK REVIEW
THERE WAS AN OLD MAN WHO PAINTED THE SKY
by Teri Sloat and illustrated by Stefano Vitale

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BUTT OR FACE?

by Kari Lavelle ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2023

A gleeful game for budding naturalists.

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Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.

In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)