An interesting, absorbing browser.
Aspirationally encyclopedic, this survey covers the pig’s evolution, domestication, characteristics, adaptations, importance as a global food source, appearances in myth, and more.
Bird selects fresh facts. Pigs are resistant to snake venom. They’re as smart as dogs and capable of episodic memory—the ability to learn from past experiences. She’s forthcoming about scatological and reproductive attributes, too: Across cultures, the omnivorous pig has played a role as a household waste recycler, including of excrement. A “Facts of Life” section includes details about mating behaviors, the shape of a boar’s penis, and piglets’ growth stages. The rectum and anus figure in an anatomical illustration; Bird asserts that a “full-grown hog will produce six and a half pounds of manure a day.” She cheerfully addresses young readers: “Here’s a fact that may surprise you: pigs can swim!” Several spreads reveal the international array of meat products derived from the pig. “Everything but the Squeal” examines how collagen, bristles, skin, and even heart valves are utilized in industrial production and medicine. Pintonato’s illustrations vacillate between realistic details and fanciful tableaux. In an anthropomorphized spread about pig illnesses, several hospital beds contain pigs attended by health care workers. Additional sections include pigs in pop culture and as pets; thumbnails highlight 20 of the species’s more than 500 breeds. A table of contents is of marginal utility; the project entirely lacks indexing, documentation, or readers’ resources.
An interesting, absorbing browser. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-61689-989-9
Page Count: 76
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
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)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
