A visually stirring guide to empathizing with the natural world.
Led by their teacher, budding birders imagine their lives as veeries.
When Ms. Lee turns off the lights and starts playing rainforest sounds, her students know it’s time to fly into their imaginations. In vibrantly hued scenes, honey-colored veeries—“Sort of like robins but smaller”—flit over the dark shadowy blue of the classroom. Ms. Lee sets the scene, describing the birds’ eating and migration habits. Bright, saturated images of the birds contrast with faded depictions of the schoolchildren. In one spread, the young, Black-presenting narrator holds out an arm, which becomes a multicolored wing. As the students follow the veeries’ migration from Brazil to the United States and Canada, they learn that deforestation, dogs, and lit windows all pose dangers. The children draw parallels between themselves and the birds. Just as veeries fall prey to raptors, kids are vulnerable to bullies. One youngster begins wondering about a relative’s immigrant journey—was it as perilous as a veerie’s travels? Matter-of-fact text pairs well with dreamy illustrations that illuminate the students’ thoughts as effectively as the “bird river” they’re imagining. In the final spread, the narrator comes face to face with a real bird, and the two share a curious moment: “I think it knows I’m a veery, too.” Ms. Lee presents Asian; her students are diverse.
A visually stirring guide to empathizing with the natural world. (further reading, facts about birds) (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781949480436
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Cameron Kids
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
Extraordinary introductory terror, beautiful to the eye and sure to delight younger horror enthusiasts.
What terrors lurk within your mouth? Jasper Rabbit knows.
“You have stumbled your way into the unknown.” The young bunny introduced in Reynolds and Brown’s Caldecott Honor–winning picture book, Creepy Carrots (2012), takes up Rod Serling’s mantle, and the fit is perfect. Mimicking an episode of The Twilight Zone, the book follows Charlie Marmot, an average kid with a penchant for the strange and unusual. He’s pleased when his tonsils become infected; maybe once they’re out he can take them to school for show and tell! That’s when bizarre things start to happen: Noises in the night. Slimy trails on his bedroom floor. And when Charlie goes in for his surgery, he’s told that the tonsils have disappeared from his throat; clearly something sinister is afoot. Those not yet ready for Goosebumps levels of horror will find this a welcome starter pack. Reynolds has perfected the tension he employed in his Creepy Tales! series, and partner in crime Brown imbues each illustration with both humor and a delicate undercurrent of dark foreshadowing. While the fleshy pink tonsils—the sole spot of color in this black-and-white world—aren’t outrageously gross, there’s something distinctly disgusting about them. And though the book stars cute, furry woodland creatures, the spooky surprise ending is 100% otherworldly—a marvelous moment of twisted logic.
Extraordinary introductory terror, beautiful to the eye and sure to delight younger horror enthusiasts. (Early chapter book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9781665961080
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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