by Margriet Ruurs ; illustrated by Claudia Dávila ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 11, 2018
A low-key, fantasy-free dino adventure.
Muddy mishaps and a thrilling discovery highlight a class outing to a dinosaur museum and dig in Alberta.
Following months of fundraising and dinosaur study (“The only thing the teacher did not have us do was write dinosaur poems,” reports narrator Josh with lamentable lack of disappointment), the weeklong trip to Drumheller begins with a bus, features a visit to a dinosaur museum, and culminates in an encounter with a snake—in the course of which Josh finds the protruding end of a fossilized bone. Better yet, the discovery earns Josh’s whole class free pizza from the site’s paleontologists! Despite the dinos and minor drama (the snake just flicks away at earliest opportunity), the tale is a staid one overall, but there is free pizza, and in Dávila’s ink-and-wash illustrations, Josh is a person of color (with brown skin and straight, black hair) in a diverse class. Fledgling chapter-book readers working their way through Suzy Kline’s Horrible Harry series may be drawn to this Canadian counterpart.
A low-key, fantasy-free dino adventure. (Fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4598-1670-1
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Orca
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
by Lana Button ; illustrated by Suharu Ogawa
by Sara Cassidy ; illustrated by Alyssa Hutchings
by Jennifer Tzivia MacLeod ; illustrated by Jaimie MacGibbon
More by Margriet Ruurs
BOOK REVIEW
by Margriet Ruurs ; illustrated by Wenjia Tang
BOOK REVIEW
by Margriet Ruurs ; illustrated by Christine Wei
BOOK REVIEW
by Margriet Ruurs ; illustrated by Pedro Covo
by Julian Lennon with Bart Davis ; illustrated by Smiljana Coh ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 11, 2017
“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so...
A pro bono Twinkie of a book invites readers to fly off in a magic plane to bring clean water to our planet’s oceans, deserts, and brown children.
Following a confusingly phrased suggestion beneath a soft-focus world map to “touch the Earth. Now touch where you live,” a shake of the volume transforms it into a plane with eyes and feathered wings that flies with the press of a flat, gray “button” painted onto the page. Pressing like buttons along the journey releases a gush of fresh water from the ground—and later, illogically, provides a filtration device that changes water “from yucky to clean”—for thirsty groups of smiling, brown-skinned people. At other stops, a tap on the button will “help irrigate the desert,” and touching floating bottles and other debris in the ocean supposedly makes it all disappear so the fish can return. The 20 children Coh places on a globe toward the end are varied of skin tone, but three of the four young saviors she plants in the flier’s cockpit as audience stand-ins are white. The closing poem isn’t so openly parochial, though it seldom rises above vague feel-good sentiments: “Love the Earth, the moon and sun. / All the children can be one.”
“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so easy to clean the place up and give everyone a drink? (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5107-2083-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
by Julian Lennon & Bart Davis ; illustrated by Smiljana Coh
More by Julian Lennon
BOOK REVIEW
by Julian Lennon & Bart Davis ; illustrated by Smiljana Coh
by Britta Drehsen & illustrated by Sara Ball & translated by Laura Lindgren ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2011
Sturdy split pages allow readers to create their own inventive combinations from among a handful of prehistoric critters. Hard on the heels of Flip-O-Saurus (2010) drops this companion gallery, printed on durable boards and offering opportunities to mix and match body thirds of eight prehistoric mammals, plus a fish and a bird, to create such portmanteau creatures as a “Gas-Lo-Therium,” or a “Mega-Tor-Don.” The “Mam-Nyc-Nia” places the head of a mammoth next to the wings and torso of an Icaronycteris (prehistoric bat) and the hind legs of a Macrauchenia (a llamalike creature with a short trunk), to amusing effect. Drehsen adds first-person captions on the versos, which will also mix and match to produce chuckles: “Do you like my nose? It’s actually a short trunk…” “I may remind you of an ostrich, because my wings aren’t built for flying…” “My tail looks like a dolphin’s.” With but ten layers to flip, young paleontologists will run through most of the permutations in just a few minutes, but Ball’s precisely detailed ink-and-watercolor portraits of each animal formally posed against plain cream colored backdrops may provide a slightly more enduring draw. A silhouette key on the front pastedown includes a pronunciation guide and indicates scale. Overall, a pleasing complement to more substantive treatments. (Novelty nonfiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7892-1099-9
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Abbeville Kids
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
Share your opinion of this book
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.