Captivating, informative, and useful as a browser and learning tool for primate aficionados.
Introducing a fascinating primate community.
Fourteen different species of monkeys live together harmoniously in the tropical splendor of the Manú National Park in southeastern Peru. Readers learn that these delightful creatures maintain their peaceful co-existence due to the varying altitudes at which they live among the trees and because of their different sizes, diets, and behaviors. Information abounds: Each species, aptly shown in an arboreal setting, is introduced and identified via a charming boldfaced couplet on facing pages of double-page spreads. Verses that mostly scan well present very basic facts about diet, habits, locomotion, and/or vocalizations; text set in a smaller font provides more-substantive information; pronunciation guides are provided where needed. For younger readers, the book may first be enjoyed via rhymes alone. Supplementing the rhymes and informative paragraphs in each spread is a small image of a tree against which an orange circle indicates the height in the rainforest where each monkey lives. Jenkins’ signature splendid illustrations, cut- and torn-paper collages, realistically depict the monkeys as colorful, lively, wide-eyed, winsome, and endearing; fur appears palpably plush. A page that requires a 90-degree turn at the conclusion elaborates on the altitudes in the rainforest at which the various species dwell; backmatter material includes thumbnail pictures and additional facts about all the monkeys featured. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Captivating, informative, and useful as a browser and learning tool for primate aficionados. (sources, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6039-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 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
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