This third in an engaging series of “seriously funny facts about your favorite animals” will both please and inform.
Facts about dolphins, fancifully presented.
Eaton’s introduction to the dolphin family is enlivened by humorous, digitally colored pen-and-ink cartoon-style drawings. Each spread presents important points in one to four sentences in a thick, readable typeface. These facts include the differences between dolphins and fish, their mammalian characteristics, the tail-first birth of their calves, their ubiquity in the world’s oceans, their behavior (hunting methods and usual prey, echolocation, communication, playfulness, cooperation), and threats they face. One spread shows examples of eight of the 40 dolphin species and gives weights for the smallest and largest. Speech bubbles add information and humor, especially from a sea gull commentator. There are some human onlookers, too, a brown-skinned girl and her diverse companions. The selected facts are accurate, appealing, and important; the threats—toxic pollution, boat traffic, industrial fishing, and the changing climate—are presented lightly along with the reassuring statement “you can help by learning about dolphins and then teaching others.” The package concludes with two pages of additional information and suggestions for further research. The difference between fact and fancy should be obvious even to elementary-age readers, who will enjoy the occasional silliness.
This third in an engaging series of “seriously funny facts about your favorite animals” will both please and inform. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62672-668-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
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 Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be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
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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