Do not hide this book!
Martin highlights the lives and disguises of one dozen animals hailing from habitats from every continent but Antarctica, with camouflaged-animal searches.
Captivating watercolor art immediately draws readers in. Before the title page, a blue-and-green map of Earth’s continents appears, superimposed with 12 circles; each circle contains a portrait of one of the upcoming subjects. Also preceding the title page, the author notes the importance of humans’ protecting habitat in order to save animals, “even when we can’t always see them!” Two double-page spreads are devoted to each animal, starting with chameleons. The first spread for each animal uses an ideal amount of negative space to set off short, titled paragraphs and art that perfectly complements the text. For example, “Sticky Situation” gives fascinating facts about a chameleon’s tongue as one whips across the top of the paragraph. The second double-page spread for each animal offers fun that will entice even 3-year-olds. A small amount of text lets readers know how many of the featured animal are hiding in each lushly painted environment—from eight mimic octopuses to 17 owl butterflies—as well as the names of other animals hidden there. The conversational text clearly defines words such as metamorphosis and opisthoglyphous (having fangs at the back of the upper jaw). Both art and text enhance scientific accuracy with beauty and playfulness—a rare feat. Sturdy pages, too.
Do not hide this book! (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1405-5
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Candlewick Studio
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
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 Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be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
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
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