This competent introduction to big cats of the world begins with an eye-catching cover. After generally describing the family range, size, appearance, specialized body parts, hunting (without using the word carnivore) and territories, Patent goes on to provide specifics about each of the seven species she has chosen to include: lion, leopard, cheetah, tiger, snow leopard (incorrectly identified as Panthera uncia rather than uncia uncia), cougar and jaguar. Scientific names and size are given for each, and smaller maps show where they live. Young readers will learn about hunting styles and favorite prey. For each species, Patent adds a different detail: how lions live in prides; that tigers will swim to cool off; how a snow leopard can tuck its tail around its face. Lush watercolor illustrations fill each page; some are double-page spreads. Endpapers show the species on a map of the world. An explanation of the endangered status of these animals will be confusing to readers who don’t know the categories and makes a disappointingly limp conclusion to an otherwise interesting book. (Nonfiction. 6-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-8027-8968-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2005
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
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