A twinkling delight for bedtime and storytime.
Star light, star bright…a child takes a lyrical journey to the heavens and discovers she’s a star—in the best possible way.
In simple, poetic prose, a young girl soars into the night sky and discovers the origin of stars. Eons ago a star got hotter and hotter until it exploded. The resulting bits came to settle on what is now Earth and thus became a part of everything on the planet, including humans. The language is clear and directly addresses readers (“Are you okay? Yes? Good”). Imagine children’s delight in learning they were born from and are made up of stardust, even down to the grooves of their fingertips. Sweet and captivating illustrations, created from multiple media and often set against vintage-looking maps of constellations, are the stars here, too. They work perfectly with the text to demonstrate for youngsters how their bodies and all living things came to be imbued with pieces of stars. The book is intended to make nighttime less frightening—after all, the sky isn’t really dark with all those stars up there—but it also allows children to think larger, deeper thoughts about how marvelously they and their whole universe are connected. No wonder the lucky “star” sleeps so contentedly on the final page.
A twinkling delight for bedtime and storytime. (star facts) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8027-2841-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
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
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions.
Ellis, known for her illustrations for Colin Meloy’s Wildwood series, here riffs on the concept of “home.”
Shifting among homes mundane and speculative, contemporary and not, Ellis begins and ends with views of her own home and a peek into her studio. She highlights palaces and mansions, but she also takes readers to animal homes and a certain famously folkloric shoe (whose iconic Old Woman manages a passel of multiethnic kids absorbed in daring games). One spread showcases “some folks” who “live on the road”; a band unloads its tour bus in front of a theater marquee. Ellis’ compelling ink and gouache paintings, in a palette of blue-grays, sepia and brick red, depict scenes ranging from mythical, underwater Atlantis to a distant moonscape. Another spread, depicting a garden and large building under connected, transparent domes, invites readers to wonder: “Who in the world lives here? / And why?” (Earth is seen as a distant blue marble.) Some of Ellis’ chosen depictions, oddly juxtaposed and stripped of any historical or cultural context due to the stylized design and spare text, become stereotypical. “Some homes are boats. / Some homes are wigwams.” A sailing ship’s crew seems poised to land near a trio of men clad in breechcloths—otherwise unidentified and unremarked upon.
Visually accomplished but marred by stereotypical cultural depictions. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6529-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2014
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