To say the book is simply a nature alphabet is an understatement. Altogether, the 26 selections create a panoramic...
“There is a wild and beautiful place where an ancient rainforest meets the ocean.…Come and explore the Pacific west coast” via the ABCs.
The promise of the above introduction is more than fulfilled. Two or three sentences narrate each letter: “B is for bears that den in the rainforest. At low tide, a hungry black bear ambles down to the beach and flips over rocks to find tasty crabs to eat.” Each statement is descriptive, informative, and handsomely illustrated with watercolors and colored pencils in expansive double-page spreads. Only a few letter choices will be familiar to most kids, such as E for eagles, F for fish, P for Pacific Ocean, and R for rain. For the most part, Hodge handles the more challenging letters well: I is for invertebrates, K is for kelp, Q is for quillback rockfish, and Z is for the intertidal zone. Only two entries are so obscure as to be real stretches: X is for Xiphister (a prickleback fish), and V is for “Velella velella, or by-the-wind sailors.” An author’s note provides further general information, and there is a short list of websites and books for further exploration.
To say the book is simply a nature alphabet is an understatement. Altogether, the 26 selections create a panoramic experience in print—East Coast dwellers will want one of their own. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-55498-440-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of...
An international story tackles a serious global issue with Reynolds’ characteristic visual whimsy.
Gie Gie—aka Princess Gie Gie—lives with her parents in Burkina Faso. In her kingdom under “the African sky, so wild and so close,” she can tame wild dogs with her song and make grass sway, but despite grand attempts, she can neither bring the water closer to home nor make it clean. French words such as “maintenant!” (now!) and “maman” (mother) and local color like the karite tree and shea nuts place the story in a French-speaking African country. Every morning, Gie Gie and her mother perch rings of cloth and large clay pots on their heads and walk miles to the nearest well to fetch murky, brown water. The story is inspired by model Georgie Badiel, who founded the Georgie Badiel Foundation to make clean water accessible to West Africans. The details in Reynolds’ expressive illustrations highlight the beauty of the West African landscape and of Princess Gie Gie, with her cornrowed and beaded hair, but will also help readers understand that everyone needs clean water—from the children of Burkina Faso to the children of Flint, Michigan.
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of potable water. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17258-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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