An intriguing look at an unusual subject.
Explore the fascinating world of a fairy-tale–esque fungus.
In her debut picture book, Zimmermann, author of numerous short nonfiction articles for children’s magazines, invites her audience to look closely at mushrooms. In lyrical, attention-grabbing language, she describes mushrooms’ bizarre shapes and colors and remarkable smells—there are even mushrooms that smell like bubble gum! She goes on to mention foragers, both animal and human, and then turns to mushroom reproduction and the secret underground lives of these fungal blooms. Star-dusted double-page illustrations convey Green’s enthusiasm for the subject. Backgrounds of black night skies and deep-brown ground layers on several spreads underscore the mystery of mushroom existence. Green portrays other plant life as well, along with fauna, from a forest-floor perspective, and then follows mushroom spores into the clouds, where they help create rain. In the backmatter we learn that in Russia, a gentle rain that falls while the sun is shining is called a “mushroom rain,” hence the title of the book, and that the “largest known living organism on Earth” is a mushroom-producing fungus growing in a forest in eastern Oregon. With spare text and engaging pictures, this relatively simple nonfiction book would make an effective storytime presentation. The backmatter, printed in a scriptlike text, is clearly geared toward adults. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An intriguing look at an unusual subject. (Nonfiction picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-53411-150-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
Enticing and eco-friendly.
Why and how to make a rain garden.
Having watched through their classroom window as a “rooftop-rushing, gutter-gushing” downpour sloppily flooded their streets and playground, several racially diverse young children follow their tan-skinned teacher outside to lay out a shallow drainage ditch beneath their school’s downspout, which leads to a patch of ground, where they plant flowers (“native ones with tough, thick roots,” Schaub specifies) to absorb the “mucky runoff” and, in time, draw butterflies and other wildlife. The author follows up her lilting rhyme with more detailed explanations of a rain garden’s function and construction, including a chart to help determine how deep to make the rain garden and a properly cautionary note about locating a site’s buried utility lines before starting to dig; she concludes with a set of leads to online information sources. Gómez goes more for visual appeal than realism. In her scenes, a group of smiling, round-headed, very small children in rain gear industriously lay large stones along a winding border with little apparent effort; nevertheless, her images of the little ones planting generic flowers that are tall and lush just a page turn later do make the outdoorsy project look like fun.
Enticing and eco-friendly. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781324052357
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Norton Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A boon for beaver storytimes or young naturalists living near beaver streams.
Readers learn about a keystone species and the habitat they create.
In a “House That Jack Built” style (though minus the cumulative repetition), Sonenshine introduces children to beavers. Beginning with a beaver who’s just gnawed down a willow near their lodge, the author moves on to the dam that blocks the stream and protects their domed home and then to the yearlings that are working to repair it with sticks and mud. Muskrats and a musk turtle take advantage of the safety of the beavers’ lodge, while Coyote tries (and fails) to breach it. Then the book turns to other animals that enjoy the benefits of the pond the beavers have created: goose, ducklings, heron, moose. While the beavers aren’t in all these illustrations, evidence of them is. And then suddenly a flood takes out both the dam and the beavers’ lodge. So, the beavers move upstream to find a new spot to dam and build again, coming full circle back to the beginning of the book. Hunter’s ink-and–colored pencil illustrations have a scratchy style that is well suited to the beavers’ pelts, their watery surroundings, and the other animals that share their habitat. Careful observers will be well rewarded by the tiny details. Beavers are mostly nocturnal, which isn’t always faithfully depicted by Hunter. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A boon for beaver storytimes or young naturalists living near beaver streams. (beaver facts, glossary, further resources) (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1868-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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