An inviting glimpse into an unfamiliar world.
A pod of narwhals making its annual migration is the frame for this introduction to a most unusual sea mammal.
Anderson, who produced a BBC program on the springtime melting of Arctic ice that marked the first time narwhal migration was captured on film, draws from that experience to create this intriguing nature title. Narwhals are unique members of the whale family; males (and a few females) have a single tooth, a tusk that grows out like a 6-foot spear, hence the sobriquet the Arctic unicorn (tuskless narwhals have no teeth at all). Anderson’s story follows a pod from their deep sea winter home as they travel north to the high Arctic islands, where they will spend their summer, and back (a map in the backmatter traces the route along Canada’s Baffin Island), focusing on its leader, an older male. There’s suspense, as the open path through the ice closes up and the narwhals, which breathe air, must find another hole. Predators appear. A baby is born. Additional facts about the species appear in a smaller font on each spread. The text is set directly on striking full-bleed images, contrasting the dark depths with surprising colors in the sky and the summer light. Weaver works in charcoal, a medium particularly suited for the shadowy underwater pictures, but the blue skies and white ice of her Arctic vistas are equally appealing. An afterword touches on threats to the species from climate change. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An inviting glimpse into an unfamiliar world. (further information, index) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2512-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another playful imagination-stretcher.
Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.
As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.
Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781339049052
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort.
A look at the unique ways that 11 globe-spanning animal species construct their homes.
Each creature garners two double-page spreads, which Cherrix enlivens with compelling and at-times jaw-dropping facts. The trapdoor spider constructs a hidden burrow door from spider silk. Sticky threads, fanning from the entrance, vibrate “like a silent doorbell” when walked upon by unwitting insect prey. Prairie dogs expertly dig communal burrows with designated chambers for “sleeping, eating, and pooping.” The largest recorded “town” occupied “25,000 miles and housed as many as 400 million prairie dogs!” Female ants are “industrious insects” who can remove more than a ton of dirt from their colony in a year. Cathedral termites use dirt and saliva to construct solar-cooled towers 30 feet high. Sasaki’s lively pictures borrow stylistically from the animal compendiums of mid-20th-century children’s lit; endpapers and display type elegantly suggest the blues of cyanotypes and architectural blueprints. Jarringly, the lead spread cheerfully extols the prowess of the corals of the Great Barrier Reef, “the world’s largest living structure,” while ignoring its accelerating, human-abetted destruction. Calamitously, the honeybee hive is incorrectly depicted as a paper-wasps’ nest, and the text falsely states that chewed beeswax “hardens into glue to shape the hive.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort. (selected sources) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5625-9
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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