Not a necessary purchase—but an easy sell.
Photos of 11 unusual-looking animals are accompanied by statements about the utility of their odd features.
From thorn bugs in the Americas to saiga antelopes in Eurasia, this album introduces strikingly unusual-looking members of the animal kingdom from around the world. Singling out animals that “look freaky” is a dubious premise for children’s attention, but author Murphy points out that “these odd features also make them super survivors.” Spread by spread she presents close-up photographs that fill a page and a half; a single-sentence caption and a short boxed paragraph explaining the odd feature’s utility appear in the remaining space. The mammals—dugong, aye-aye, naked mole rat, narwhal, and the aforementioned antelope—may be animals children have heard of. Leafy sea dragons sometimes turn up in aquariums. But the others—the brightly colored thorn bug gracing the cover, a sea slug called a glaucus, an Australian reptile called a thorny devil, and the African shoebill (a large, grumpy-looking bird)—are likely to surprise. The photographs, from stock sources, are wonderfully attention-getting. There seems no need for the exclamation marks that end every descriptive sentence and most of the explanatory paragraphs. The information given is limited but sound, supported with additional facts and suggestions for further reading and web research in the backmatter.
Not a necessary purchase—but an easy sell. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5415-8502-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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