A basic introduction to the environmental hazards that endanger whales.
A young whale finds himself in jeopardy.
Oscar, a young whale, lives with his mother deep in the ocean, surrounded by all sorts of different animals. He always feels safe—until the day he gets trapped in an abandoned scrap of fishing net. Separated from his mother and initially unable to move, he rises for air and is freed by some divers, the likes of which he’s never seen before. After a “dance” for his rescuers, he is joyfully reunited with his mother. Based on a true story, this well-intentioned tale includes some facts about humpback whales and some of the perils they face from pollution as well as hunting. The focus here is educational rather than artistic; it appears that young readers and listeners are meant to attend to the plot and lesson rather than a gracefully told story; the language is sometimes clumsy, while the artwork is pleasant but not particularly artful. The consistent, nonstandard capitalization of “Mama” regardless of context (“Where is his Mama?”) gives the text an amateurish feel. Still the book’s focus on the plight of whales may make it helpful in the classroom as a supporting resource, though it stops short of providing children with concrete measures that may encourage recycling or activism.
A basic introduction to the environmental hazards that endanger whales. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7641-6851-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Barron's
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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