A very welcome addition to nature shelves.
Major similarities and differences among six classes of animals—and two additional animal categories—are explained with the aid of simple rhymes and sophisticated art.
A text that aspires to reveal nature facts using rhythm and rhyme can easily fall into pitfalls—sometimes sacrificing meaning for good scansion or vice versa. Amazingly, this book manages to convey elemental facts about animals with verse that both scans and informs. The initial double-page spread shows two children gazing at creatures in a tide pool. The book’s opening (and closing) lines emphasize the idea that Earth’s animals have many tangible differences but also that all are, as the subtitle says, “kin.” Variations that categorize each family are discussed and illustrated in the pages that follow. An excellent double-page spread of appealing mammals illustrating the qualifying traits of milk, fur, warmbloodedness, live birth, and parental care is followed by an equally thoughtful spread with a lineup of humans as mammals that contains diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, and the many ways that human families are defined. Categories beyond common animal families include “detritovores,” which merits this descriptive—and humorous—couplet: “Detritovores, so oft forgotten, / dine on things both dead and rotten.” As with the rest of the text, the couplet is followed by further explanation of the category and accompanied by vibrant, detailed art. Backmatter provides both further information and resources for readers who want to help animals.
A very welcome addition to nature shelves. (Informational picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4814-4709-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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
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