Attractive, colorful, and age-appropriate, though not without flaw.
A brown-skinned young girl acts as “bug guide,” inviting readers to search for some bugs with her in this attractive offering by Yoon.
The book showcases a total of eight common insects, from ladybug and butterfly to bumblebee and ant, one on each page in close-up detail, with a green, leafy background. Each insect is printed on a large flap that’s sturdy and easy for a toddler to lift up, and underneath is a colorful illustration of the insect in its natural environment and a rhyming couplet (sometimes clunky but always age-appropriate) giving brief basic facts about it. “Lightning bugs come out at night / and flash their little glowing light”; “Grasshoppers can jump so high! / They also use their wings to fly.” The book supports a common misconception by including the spider, an arachnid, with the rest of the insects, encouraging another generation to believe that spiders are insects: “Spiders creep and sneak and crawl. / They weave their webs, both big and small.” Bright, colorful illustrations show the insects in natural colors and all at the same size, not drawn to scale. Companion book Dinosaur Discovery works on the same format with a young white-skinned girl as “field guide” and features eight common dinosaurs, including Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and Argentinosaurus, again not to scale. Some of the facts may be unverifiable, such as assertions about coloration and vocalization.
Attractive, colorful, and age-appropriate, though not without flaw. (Board book. 18 mos.-4)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2108-0
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
Simple, encouraging text, charming photographs, straightforward, unpretentious diversity, and adorable animals—what’s not to...
This entry-level early reader/picture book pairs children with farm animals.
Using a simple, effective template—a full-page photograph on the recto page and a bordered spot photo above the text on the verso—Rotner delivers an amiable picture book that presents racially and ethnically diverse kids interacting (mostly in the cuddling department) with the adult and baby animals typically found on a farm. Chickens, chicks, cats, kittens, dogs, puppies, pigs, piglets, cows, and calves are all represented. While a couple of double-page spreads show the larger adult animals—pigs and cows—without a child, most of the rest portray a delighted child hugging a compliant critter. The text, simple and repetitive, changes only the name for the animal depicted in the photo on that spread: “I like the cat”; “I like the piglet.” In this way, reading comprehension for new readers is supported in an enjoyable, appealing way, since the photo of the animal reinforces the new word. It’s hard to go wrong combining cute kids with adorable animals, but special kudos must be given for the very natural way Rotner has included diversity—it’s especially gratifying to see diversity normalized and validated early, at the same time that reading comprehension is taught.
Simple, encouraging text, charming photographs, straightforward, unpretentious diversity, and adorable animals—what’s not to like? (Picture book/early reader. 2-6)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3833-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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