Rooted in stereotype, this tale should be left back in the Stone Age.
A destructive storm eventually helps Cave Girl create the home of her dreams.
Cave Girl has everything a prehistoric girl could want, like parents who “rock” and a pet snake. There’s just one thing she can’t stand…living in a cave. It’s too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. She’s inspired to build her own place when she sees two beavers making a dam, but her parents ignore her excitement—to her frustration. When a massive storm destroys the cave, however, the family must find a new home. All the other caves are taken, so Cave Girl shows her parents how they can build the perfect home. Though the story of a young girl achieving her goals might otherwise have been empowering, it’s overshadowed by the depiction of a brown-skinned family as “primitive.” They live in a dank, bat-ridden cave, sport animal-skin pelts, wear bones as accessories, and speak broken English; Cave Girl’s mother has a ring through her nose, while Cave Girl’s curly, Afro-textured hair is ornamented with little bones—details that evoke outdated and offensive portrayals of so-called “uncivilized” peoples. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Rooted in stereotype, this tale should be left back in the Stone Age. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 15, 2023
ISBN: 9781478869269
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Reycraft Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers.
Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard.
A grouchy sapling on a Christmas tree farm finds that there are better things than lights and decorations for its branches.
A Grinch among the other trees on the farm is determined never to become a sappy Christmas tree—and never to leave its spot. Its determination makes it so: It grows gnarled and twisted and needle-less. As time passes, the farm is swallowed by the suburbs. The neighborhood kids dare one another to climb the scary, grumpy-looking tree, and soon, they are using its branches for their imaginative play, the tree serving as a pirate ship, a fort, a spaceship, and a dragon. But in winter, the tree stands alone and feels bereft and lonely for the first time ever, and it can’t look away from the decorated tree inside the house next to its lot. When some parents threaten to cut the “horrible” tree down, the tree thinks, “Not now that my limbs are full of happy children,” showing how far it has come. Happily for the tree, the children won’t give up so easily, and though the tree never wished to become a Christmas tree, it’s perfectly content being a “trick or tree.” Martinez’s digital illustrations play up the humorous dichotomy between the happy, aspiring Christmas trees (and their shoppers) and the grumpy tree, and the diverse humans are satisfyingly expressive.
Just the thing for anyone with a Grinch-y tree of their own in the yard. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-7335-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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