A beautiful and informative title for a sense-of-wonder storytime.
Around the world, natural events make the sky glow.
With a simple, repetitive verse and short explanatory descriptions, Beckerman presents occasions when the sky fills with light and color. The sun’s rising and setting, lightning storms, rainbows, solar eclipses, full moons, volcanic eruptions, mating fireflies, meteor showers, and auroras—all are opportunities to admire unusual displays in the natural world. Litchfield’s color-drenched illustrations glow as well. They show people appreciating nature in a variety of environments. This picture series begins and ends with a child in bed: a red-haired, light-skinned child rising with the sun in a rural setting; a dark-skinned boy waking in a city. Each topic is presented on a spread on which a few words on a block of color on the recto oppose a full-bleed image; this is followed by a luminous double-page scene illustrating the sky’s glow. An explanatory paragraph is relatively unobtrusive on the lower right—truly a two-level text. In one image, a brown-skinned photographer is almost hidden behind a camera; the page turn reveals that they are taking advantage of a golden sunset to photograph large African animals. On another spread, a light-skinned adult and child walk through a firefly-filled woods, and on another page, seated around a campfire, a tan-skinned family admires meteors showering from the sky (in unlikely numbers). The backmatter mentions light pollution and offers sources for further research. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A beautiful and informative title for a sense-of-wonder storytime. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5039-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort.
A look at the unique ways that 11 globe-spanning animal species construct their homes.
Each creature garners two double-page spreads, which Cherrix enlivens with compelling and at-times jaw-dropping facts. The trapdoor spider constructs a hidden burrow door from spider silk. Sticky threads, fanning from the entrance, vibrate “like a silent doorbell” when walked upon by unwitting insect prey. Prairie dogs expertly dig communal burrows with designated chambers for “sleeping, eating, and pooping.” The largest recorded “town” occupied “25,000 miles and housed as many as 400 million prairie dogs!” Female ants are “industrious insects” who can remove more than a ton of dirt from their colony in a year. Cathedral termites use dirt and saliva to construct solar-cooled towers 30 feet high. Sasaki’s lively pictures borrow stylistically from the animal compendiums of mid-20th-century children’s lit; endpapers and display type elegantly suggest the blues of cyanotypes and architectural blueprints. Jarringly, the lead spread cheerfully extols the prowess of the corals of the Great Barrier Reef, “the world’s largest living structure,” while ignoring its accelerating, human-abetted destruction. Calamitously, the honeybee hive is incorrectly depicted as a paper-wasps’ nest, and the text falsely states that chewed beeswax “hardens into glue to shape the hive.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort. (selected sources) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5625-9
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer.
Rotner follows up her celebrations of spring and autumn with this look at all things winter.
Beginning with the signs that winter is coming—bare trees, shorter days, colder temperatures—Rotner eases readers into the season. People light fires and sing songs on the solstice, trees and plants stop growing, and shadows grow long. Ice starts to form on bodies of water and windows. When the snow flies, the fun begins—bundle up and then build forts, make snowballs and snowmen (with eyebrows!), sled, ski (nordic is pictured), skate, snowshoe, snowboard, drink hot chocolate. Animals adapt to the cold as well. “Birds grow more feathers” (there’s nothing about fluffing and air insulation) and mammals, more hair. They have to search for food, and Rotner discusses how many make or find shelter, slow down, hibernate, or go underground or underwater to stay warm. One page talks about celebrating holidays with lights and decorations. The photos show a lit menorah, an outdoor deciduous tree covered in huge Christmas bulbs, a girl next to a Chinese dragon head, a boy with lit luminarias, and some fireworks. The final spread shows signs of the season’s shift to spring. Rotner’s photos, as always, are a big draw. The children are a marvelous mix of cultures and races, and all show their clear delight with winter.
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3976-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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