Enlightening, interactive animal fun.
How tough could it be to find an elephant?
“Elephant journal” in hand, Alex, our tan-skinned young narrator, is determined to track down a pachyderm. Alex quizzes a giraffe and some meerkats but, while questioning a tree-twining boa, fails to notice a long, gray, fruit-plucking trunk below. As Alex talks to a rhino, the hindquarters of another pachyderm can be glimpsed disappearing into the underbrush. Crouching in a nest amid huge eggs, our oblivious narrator interrogates a cranky-looking vulture; later, Alex queries an irate lion, missing many elephants off in the distance. The next page reveals Alex inside the lion’s belly, consulting a zebra who’s also been eaten by the big cat (both are intact), while five elephants walk by outside, unseen. In a crocodile-infested river, Alex straddles an open jaw, overlooking the elephant group on the far shore (as well as the croc chomping on the narrator’s backpack). Perched on an enormous termite mound, Alex again misses out on the elephants. Finally, concluding that “elephants are so hard to find,” Alex pulls out a “Tiger Journal,” beginning a new quest by querying…an elephant! Delightful watercolorlike illustrations in earthy tones are engaging and will have kids eagerly pointing out everything that Alex misses—make room for this one at storytime. Three spreads feature pages from Alex’s journal, with facts on elephant families, intelligence, diet, and more.
Enlightening, interactive animal fun. (how to make your own journal, resources) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781525306747
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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
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