The author introduces 13 animals that live (or lived) near North American rivers, including the common dragonfly, water beetle, blackbird, raccoon, and catfish as well as the less common moose, river otter, water shrew, osprey, beaver, trout, salamander, and mountain lion. She describes how the different animals use the river from morning to night to find food, play, and raise their young. Each page is devoted to a different animal, the left page showing a full color portrait and providing text, while the right shows the animal in the pond at a specific time of day. The same painting of the pond appears on each right-hand page, only the changing light and shadow indicates the passage of time as various animals come and go throughout the day and evening. While the technique is interesting, it is not entirely successful here. The pale colors used and the sameness of scene sap the river of vitality. The effect is of a museum diorama rather than viewing a river first hand. Like the author’s previous titles, Desert Discoveries (1997) and Tundra Discoveries (1999), there are some interesting facts provided, for example, the shiny water beetle sticks its bottom out of the water to draw air into a special cavity. Underwater, the air is released from the cavity via tiny tubes, allowing the beetle to jet along and avoid its enemies. A question is provided on each page to encourage careful listening. The title concludes with a double-page spread with all the animals present in the pond and a brief glossary. While the author’s appreciation of the natural world is evident, the text is livelier than the illustrations. (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 1-57091-418-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Simon tackles his latest natural disaster in trademark but not very modern style. Information on hurricanes is clearly presented but poorly organized, and lacks any sense of drama or story. Aimed at the same age group as Dorothy Souza’s Hurricanes (1996) and Patricia Lauber’s Hurricanes: Earth’s Mightiest Storms, this falls short of both, often going into too much pedantic detail—the wind speeds of tropical depressions versus tropical storms—while failing to put needed perspective on some of the more eye-popping statistics. A hurricane can move more than a million cubic miles of atmosphere per second—but the naked numbers are essentially meaningless to students who think of millions in terms of ballplayers’ salaries and can’t imagine cubic miles at all. Photos of smashed houses and boats in front yards add excitement, but others—plain clouds?—detract; some are very grainy when blown up to the requisite full page. Formulaic and a numbing read-aloud. (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-688-16291-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2003
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