A recycled storyline without enough twists to feel new.
A young Earth-Bot wakes up to ocean plastic pollution.
Neo and his grandfather, both Earth-Bots, live at the ocean’s edge. Both have round, cartoon faces and matter-of-factly wear spacesuit helmets throughout. Grandpa instructs Neo to clean his plastic-infested room, but Neo fixates on video games. After Grandpa heads out for the day, Neo’s blissful gaming session is repeatedly interrupted. First a seal and later a penguin and a turtle implore Neo to help clean up the plastic pollution in the neighboring ocean. Neo initially insists he is too busy protecting the planet within his video game, but eventually he helps the animals. Spare illustrations are placed on blue or white backgrounds, with thin black outlines around characters and objects. A neat grid of plastic bottles outlined in white overlays ocean scenes, demonstrating the problem’s scale. However, the illustrations’ minimalism works against the story’s overall effectiveness; when Neo is confronted by the ocean’s mess, his facial expression doesn’t noticeably signal alarm. Neo’s video game strategies come in handy when he assesses that the plastic-pollution issue cannot be solved by one person alone, a detail that saves the story from a video games–are-negative binary but not from a sense that it’s basically treading water. A concluding note promotes personal actions with an emphasis on reducing initial plastics consumption instead of leaning on recycling as a single solution. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A recycled storyline without enough twists to feel new. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0538-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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