An ideal gift for rabbit fans and a great addition to the cute-animal shelves.
A true tale of bunny fostering sure to warm readers’ hearts.
Newbery Honoree Lord volunteers as a foster parent for a rabbit-rescue organization, training her charges to be good house pets before they are adopted for good. When she took in two Netherland Dwarf bunnies who had been living exclusively in an outdoor hutch, she got a surprise. After working to show them that humans could be kind and life in a house comfortable (and full of good treats), Lord discovered that Pegotty, the female, had delivered kits. Lord named the litter of four after Dickens characters (like their mother). Tiny Tim and Pip weren’t hearty enough to survive despite special care, but their siblings thrived. Fezziwig and Dodger learned new things each day visiting Lord’s own rabbits and the great outdoors. After eight weeks, it was the bittersweet time for the bunnies to find their forever homes…but one already had! Lord’s narrative is dotted with bunny-care instructions and explanations of vocabulary and care concepts. Bald’s photography includes both close-ups and action shots of the rabbits at all stages of life; they are unsurprisingly adorable. Mitchell’s humorous line drawings decorate and extend the photographs nicely. All work together in a package that could make a bunny lover out of anyone.
An ideal gift for rabbit fans and a great addition to the cute-animal shelves. (Informational picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-374-30841-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
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
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
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