Well-designed and meticulously detailed, this volume invites caring and activism.
From definitions to personal responsibility, this illustrated book covers our relationship with forests.
The text is organized into short chapters, beginning with descriptions of the different kinds of forests found on Earth; moving to the causes of, effects of, and solutions to deforestation; and ending with what individuals can do to decrease humans’ negative effects on forests and the environment. The text is presented in short paragraphs in a small font with subtitles. Smaller sentences placed around each spread give examples and specific details about the contents of the illustrations: animals that live in the different kinds of forests, the workings of a healthy forest, the lifestyles of Indigenous communities, and more. The book is incredibly detailed, and while everything included is fascinating, readers who don’t have the patience or interest to delve deep can learn the basics of the topic by reading only a main paragraph or two on each spread and browsing the pictures. The illustrations are clear, clean, colorful, and attractive, with racially and ethnically diverse people represented. While some of the suggested steps to take are basic and oft-repeated, some concrete suggestions are particularly useful, such as using the Forest Stewardship Council logo to guide purchases. A final page describes many different careers readers can choose to contribute to protecting forests. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11.7-by-18.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 62.8% of actual size.)
Well-designed and meticulously detailed, this volume invites caring and activism. (glossary) (Nonfiction. 5-10)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-78240-952-6
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Ivy Kids
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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