An informative, age-appropriate introduction to a little-known endangered equine species.
An elementary school–age educational foray into the mysterious, endangered Przewalski’s Horse.
One of hundreds of endangered species in the world, the Przewalski’s Horse is remarkable because it was saved from the brink of extinction by teams of determined zoologists. Much smaller than the average domesticated horse, the Przewalski’s Horse or “P-Horse” is a wild species native to the Asian steppe. The author describes how these horses were originally introduced to the Western world by Col. Nikolay Przewalski in 1878, after being well known to locals in Asia for centuries. They were once an abundant species but by the 1950s were totally extinct in the wild and reduced to only thirteen horses living in various zoos and institutions, mostly in Europe. Scientists at an international symposium in 1959 agreed to find a way to once again increase their numbers and, eventually, reintroduce the horses to living in the wild: “To save the horses from extinction, zoologists started with a small goal: search zoos for P-horses that were the right age and physical condition to breed.” After 40 years, more than 500 P-horses were in existence, so researchers released a small herd into the wild in 1992. Thanks to their continuing efforts, and despite major difficulties, P-horses have been downgraded from “extinct” to merely “endangered” in official parlance. This book, Pattison’s follow-up to Jesus Loves Me: A Pop-Up Storybook (2025), sheds a great deal of light on an interesting but underrepresented species in children’s nonfiction. Its optimistic tone is carefully measured, realistically presenting both successes and setbacks. However, it lacks clear organization, both chronologically and thematically. The narrative starts in 1959, then skips backward almost immediately to 1878. Then we shift to the 1960s and back to the present again without explaining the backstory of this unique species and the reasons for its extinction until at least halfway through. Large, bright photographs, both historical and contemporary, bring the P-horse to life for readers.
An informative, age-appropriate introduction to a little-known endangered equine species.Pub Date: July 8, 2025
ISBN: 9781629442648
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Mims House
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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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