A keen introduction to a way of being in the world.
The fundamentals of dog sledding emerge in this story of two youngsters, one a boy and the other a dog, eager to join the team and run.
Jake is a young Inuk living in Nunavut, in the Canadian north, with his dog, Kamik; such can be surmised by his calling his grandparents ataatasiaq and anaanatsiaq and the fact that there is an awful lot of snow on the ground, just right for mushing, a strong Inuit tradition. One morning Jake brings Kamik—the word for “sealskin boot” in Inuit; Baker’s story is captivating enough to make non-Inuit readers want to look these things up—to his master-musher uncle’s house to show him off. Jake’s uncle is a serious musher and is pleased with Kamik. “Smart, hard-working dogs are the best dogs. Being a good musher takes a lot of work.” He tells Jake about the things he will need to know: how to rebraid ropes and harnesses, build sleds and a doghouse, and, not least, “Dogs rely on us to keep them healthy.” Jake is a bit overwhelmed when he realizes his ignorance. But his uncle claps him on the back. “You can learn alongside your dogs.” It is one of those life lessons that need but a few words: we all must learn, we will all make mistakes, perseverance is key—neatly delivered, making learning fun rather than drudgery. Leng’s artwork sets the story in its element, with its spare landscape and close community.
A keen introduction to a way of being in the world. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77227-125-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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