Deceptively sharp, like a wombat’s bottom.
Equal parts field guide and story—and all wombat.
Delicately detailed artwork in browns and greens expertly generates a storybook feeling of the natural world. Sharing pigment with the roots and soil, the wombat’s introduction is literally grounding. A day-in-the-life flow introduces usual activities like sleeping and territory defense with unrhymed yet poetic prose. The effect is endearing, sweet, and approachable. A clear serif type relates the narrative of the wombat’s movements. Accompanying facts about their teeth, burrows, poop, and more are presented in a spindly, italicized sans-serif type with a hand-lettered look that suggests field notes. Cheng’s careful yet playful word choices and Duthie’s expert penciled lines and brush strokes will draw in art appreciators, educators, caregivers, and the children they serve. Fabulous action words like snarls, dives, and pants lend themselves to both vocabulary building and entertaining read-alouds. One point of confusion is the backing of many illustrations with white, which may have readers imagining daytime despite mention of the wombat’s nocturnal habits. Otherwise, this volume offers a solid combination of story and information. Wombats’ deployment of their “bony bottoms” to fend off their few predators and their secret pouches for their young will tickle and warm anyone to the wombat’s ways. (This book was reviewed digitally)
Deceptively sharp, like a wombat’s bottom. (index) (Informational picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2036-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another playful imagination-stretcher.
Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.
As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.
Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781339049052
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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