Highlights from life’s last 544 million years infused with humor and wonder.
A dramatic portrait gallery of some of our planet’s former residents down through the eras, with pithy odes in rhymed or free verse.
Arranged chronologically from a Cambrian Period trilobite to the hairy Mammuthus of the Quaternary, Trueman’s 21 subjects loom majestically—sometimes, as in the case of the gore-spattered Dimetrodon or the giant shark Megalodon, in entirely too–close-up views. They are also rendered in such naturalistic detail (for all that some bear almost human expressions) many viewers are likely to flinch as each page is turned. In his short but vivid lines, Elliott generally offers good reasons to be cautious: “The bad news: Like a centipede. Eight feet long. Or more. / The good news: Arthropleura was an herbivore.” Or take saber-toothed Smilodon (please): “No compassion. / No tolerance. / No mercy. / No pity. / And definitely no / ‘Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.’ ” Though the poet generally reflects the visual immediacy of the images, he sometimes takes a broader view; the tadpolelike Astraspis of the early Ordovician is “One note at the beginning / Of a never-ending song,” and as for Tyrannosaurus rex, “even kings / are vanquished / when stars fall / from the sky.” Many of the informal facts and observations he adds at the end are just as memorably phrased.
Highlights from life’s last 544 million years infused with humor and wonder. (Picture book/poetry. 5-10)Pub Date: March 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6073-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
Not the duo’s best, but fans will enjoy the effort.
“There was an old scientist who swallowed a dinosaur. / I don’t know why she swallowed a dinosaur, but she went to explore.”
She swallows a fern to feed the saurian, then a rock and a pick and a dustpan. In between the old scientist’s gastronomical feats, two children, one tan-skinned and one light-skinned—ask each other questions or spout facts about dinosaurs and paleontology. “Fossils are rocks containing traces of the past.” “Evidence of plants and animals built to last!” The book, the latest of Colandro’s many takes on the “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” song, closes with the old scientist, the kids, and the dinosaurs visiting a museum of natural history. With a rhyme scheme that is often as strained as the conceit of the voracious old lady, Colandro makes another foray into nonfiction that is relatively light on facts (previous titles have explored holidays, the seasons, astronomy, and undersea life). Lee is again along to offer his signature bug-eyed and scribbly illustrations that can be a bit unnerving at times. The children’s rhyming banter in speech bubbles interrupts the old lady patter, making the whole at once familiar and clunky. Paleo facts and a scavenger hunt at the end might add to the instruction and the fun respectively. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not the duo’s best, but fans will enjoy the effort. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: May 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-66840-7
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing.
Both technique and imaginative impulse can be found in this useful selection of poems about the literary art.
Starting with the essentials of the English language, the letters of “Our Alphabet,” the collection moves through 21 other poems of different types, meters, and rhyme schemes. This anthology has clear classroom applications, but it will also be enjoyed by individual readers who can pore carefully over playful illustrations filled with diverse children, butterflies, flowers, books, and pieces of writing. Tackling various parts of the writing process, from “How To Begin” through “Revision Is” to “Final Edit,” the poems also touch on some reasons for writing, like “Thank You Notes” and “Writing About Reading.” Some of the poems are funny, as in the quirky, four-line “If I Were an Octopus”: “I’d grab eight pencils. / All identical. / I’d fill eight notebooks. / One per tentacle.” An amusing undersea scene dominated by a smiling, orangy octopus fills this double-page spread. Some of the poems are more focused (and less lyrical) than others, such as “Final Edit” with its ending stanzas: “I check once more to guarantee / all is flawless as can be. / Careless errors will discredit / my hard work. / That’s why I edit. / But I don’t like it. / There I said it.” At least the poet tries for a little humor in those final lines.
Here’s hoping this will inspire many children to joyfully engage in writing. (Picture book/poetry. 7-10)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68437-362-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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