by Joanne Ryder and photographed by Katherine Feng ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2009
Ryder’s latest focuses on the care and learning opportunities that are given to new panda cubs at China’s Wolong Nature Preserve. Beginning with birth, the author describes how panda mothers care for their newborns and how the Preserve helps. While pandas often have twins, mothers can only care for one baby at a time, so workers and mother trade babies each week, allowing each twin to receive the care it needs. Once large enough to leave their mothers, they enter panda kindergarten—a large playground where they can learn, explore, play, make friends with the other cubs and learn the skills they will need to survive in the wild, should they be released (some will stay at the center to give birth to the next batch of cubs). Dr. Feng’s adorable photos are the highlight here, the hugely photogenic black-and-white faces compensating for an occasionally overenthusiastic text. While this is a good choice for younger readers, for depth of information, counting practice and background on the Wolong Reserve, Sandra Markle’s How Many Baby Pandas? (2008) is a better choice. (panda facts) (Informational picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-06-057850-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Collins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2009
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by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2021
A hilarious autumnal comedy of errors.
A confused squirrel overreacts to the falling autumn leaves.
Relaxing on a tree branch, Squirrel admires the red, gold, and orange leaves. Suddenly Squirrel screams, “One of my leaves is…MISSING!” Searching for the leaf, Squirrel tells Bird, “Someone stole my leaf!” Spying Mouse sailing in a leaf boat, Squirrel asks if Mouse stole the leaf. Mouse calmly replies in the negative. Bird reminds Squirrel it’s “perfectly normal to lose a leaf or two at this time of year.” Next morning Squirrel panics again, shrieking, “MORE LEAVES HAVE BEEN STOLEN!” Noticing Woodpecker arranging colorful leaves, Squirrel queries, “Are those my leaves?” Woodpecker tells Squirrel, “No.” Again, Bird assures Squirrel that no one’s taking the leaves and that the same thing happened last year, then encourages Squirrel to relax. Too wired to relax despite some yoga and a bath, the next day Squirrel cries “DISASTER” at the sight of bare branches. Frantic now, Squirrel becomes suspicious upon discovering Bird decorating with multicolored leaves. Is Bird the culprit? In response, Bird shows Squirrel the real Leaf Thief: the wind. Squirrel’s wildly dramatic, misguided, and hyperpossessive reaction to a routine seasonal event becomes a rib-tickling farce through clever use of varying type sizes and weights emphasizing his absurd verbal pronouncements as well as exaggerated, comic facial expressions and body language. Bold colors, arresting perspectives, and intense close-ups enhance Squirrel’s histrionics. Endnotes explain the science behind the phenomenon.
A hilarious autumnal comedy of errors. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7282-3520-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
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by Aaron Reynolds & illustrated by Peter Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 21, 2012
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Awards & Accolades
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New York Times Bestseller
IndieBound Bestseller
Caldecott Honor Book
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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