Sweet story of nature and nurturing.
Can a rescued crow become a pet?
A young boy spots a baby crow on the ground, unable to fly, and brings it home to nurse back to health. Mom warns him that this is a big challenge and that the weak crow could die. Grandpa warns that crows can be pests, which prompts the boy to research crow intelligence to prove him wrong. The narrator names the bird Crowbar. Within a month, Crowbar is flying, and though he lives outside, he doesn’t abandon his human friend. He taps on the boy’s bedroom window and caws to wake him every morning. The boy learns a bit of crow language but can’t get the bird to speak English. Crowbar begins snatching articles in his beak—a bracelet, a coin, a spoon. Crowbar uses the coin as a kind of surfboard to go down a slide, impressing even Grandpa. Despite his affection, Crowbar is also alert to the call of nature and eventually leaves, ready to live in the wild. Two of George’s three children are listed as collaborators on the Newbery Medalist’s final picture-book text; together they find the perfect balance of warmth and information. Minor’s lovely illustrations use a slightly subdued palette, giving the bird plenty of personality without anthropomorphizing him and depicting his human family as White. Two pages of facts about crows and suggestions for further reading conclude the book. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sweet story of nature and nurturing. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-000257-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
Echoes of Runaway Bunny color this exchange between a bath-averse piglet and his patient mother. Using a strategy that would probably be a nonstarter in real life, the mother deflects her stubborn offspring’s string of bath-free occupational conceits with appeals to reason: “Pirates NEVER EVER take baths!” “Pirates don’t get seasick either. But you do.” “Yeesh. I’m an astronaut, okay?” “Well, it is hard to bathe in zero gravity. It’s hard to poop and pee in zero gravity too!” And so on, until Mom’s enticing promise of treasure in the deep sea persuades her little Treasure Hunter to take a dive. Chunky figures surrounded by lots of bright white space in Segal’s minimally detailed watercolors keep the visuals as simple as the plotline. The language isn’t quite as basic, though, and as it rendered entirely in dialogue—Mother Pig’s lines are italicized—adult readers will have to work hard at their vocal characterizations for it to make any sense. Moreover, younger audiences (any audiences, come to that) may wonder what the piggy’s watery closing “EUREKA!!!” is all about too. Not particularly persuasive, but this might coax a few young porkers to get their trotters into the tub. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-399-25425-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Too many bugs, figuratively.
Lucy, “the youngest member of a family of fireflies,” must overcome an irrational, moon-induced anxiety in order to leave her family tree trunk and glow.
The first six pages pull readers into a lush, beautiful world of nighttime: “When the sun has set, silence falls over the Big Forest, and all of the nighttime animals wake up.” Mixed media provide an enchanting forest background, with stylized flora and fauna eventually illuminated by a large, benign moon, because the night “doesn’t like to catch them by surprise.” Turning the page catches readers by surprise, though: the family of fireflies is decidedly comical and silly-looking. Similarly, the text moves from a lulling, magical cadence to a distinct shift in mood as the bugs ready themselves for their foray into the night: “They wave their bottoms in the air, wiggle their feelers, take a deep, deep breath, and sing, ‘Here we go, it’s time to glow!’ ” It’s an acceptable change, but more unevenness follows. Lucy’s excitement about finally joining the other bugs turns to “sobbing” two nights in a row. Instead of directly linking her behavior to understandable reactions of children to newness, the text undermines itself by making Lucy’s parents’ sweet reassurances impotent and using the grandmother’s scientific explanation of moonlight as an unnecessary metaphor. Further detracting from the story, the text becomes ever denser and more complex over the book’s short span.
Too many bugs, figuratively. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-84-16147-00-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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