An immersive dip into an enticing world as close as the nearest natural body of fresh water.
In poetic language, a chorus of creepy-crawlies invite closer looks at life beneath the surface of ponds and streams.
“Some of us live in rivers: / under riffle-wrinkles or eddy-whirls,” murmur the larval mayflies, dragonflies, mosquitoes, and other insects that spend most or all of their lives underwater, “or in warm mid-water sun shafts. / You might see us then.” Some are beautiful, Hocker writes, others “seriously creepy!” In any case, Kohli definitely goes for the latter—at least at first—with a series of leggy, segmented, exactly detailed predators observed in extreme close-up views hatching and growing, ferociously eating and being eaten, in watery natural settings. At last comes a final metamorphosis that sends many creatures flitting gracefully through the air on glassy wings past a marveling, brown-skinned young observer. “When you see us,” they conclude, “think of what we were / and what we became. / Think of what you were / and what you can become.” Young readers should study the author’s closing key to the multispecies insect cast and follow her practical and explicit instructions for observing these common creatures in ways that will leave them and their natural habitats only minimally disturbed; they’ll likewise find opportunities aplenty to marvel and reflect.
An immersive dip into an enticing world as close as the nearest natural body of fresh water. (resource lists) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9781536230727
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
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
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
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