This exploration of bird beaks will fly off the shelf. Collard, a scientist, biologist, and author of over 30 nature titles, including Butterfly Count (p. 101), provides a treasure trove of interesting facts about beaks that peck, probe, crush, tear, tap, skim, scoop, stab, pry, and dig. For instance, the twisted beak of the crossbill is just perfect for prying apart the scales of pinecones to expose the seeds that it laps up with its sticky tongue. Or the large colorful toucan’s beak looks heavy but is really very light because of a honeycomb construction. Some gull beaks change colors as the bird grows older, while puffins shed bright-colored beak decorations each year. The choice of artist was truly brilliant, as it is her work that sets this apart. She provides spectacular watercolor and cut-paper collages that not only complement the text, but should cause gasps of wonder. Many double-page layouts showing birds in their natural environment are suitable for display. The author provides a short quiz to “Test your beak-ability,” inviting the reader to predict what birds eat by looking at their beaks. Includes a bibliography and Web sites for more information. (Nonfiction. 5-9)
Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 1-57091-387-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002
The wriggly narrator of Diary of a Worm (2003) puts in occasional appearances, but it’s his arachnid buddy who takes center stage here, with terse, tongue-in-cheek comments on his likes (his close friend Fly, Charlotte’s Web), his dislikes (vacuums, people with big feet), nervous encounters with a huge Daddy Longlegs, his extended family—which includes a Grandpa more than willing to share hard-won wisdom (The secret to a long, happy life: “Never fall asleep in a shoe.”)—and mishaps both at spider school and on the human playground. Bliss endows his garden-dwellers with faces and the odd hat or other accessory, and creates cozy webs or burrows colorfully decorated with corks, scraps, plastic toys and other human detritus. Spider closes with the notion that we could all get along, “just like me and Fly,” if we but got to know one another. Once again, brilliantly hilarious. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-000153-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Joanna Cotler/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2005
Rylant (Henry and Mudge and the Sneaky Crackers, 1998, etc.) slips into a sentimental mode for this latest outing of the boy and his dog, as she sends Mudge and Henry and his parents off on a camping trip. Each character is attended to, each personality sketched in a few brief words: Henry's mother is the camping veteran with outdoor savvy; Henry's father doesn't know a tent stake from a marshmallow fork, but he's got a guitar for campfire entertainment; and the principals are their usual ready-for-fun selves. There are sappy moments, e.g., after an evening of star- gazing, Rylant sends the family off to bed with: ``Everyone slept safe and sound and there were no bears, no scares. Just the clean smell of trees . . . and wonderful green dreams.'' With its nice tempo, the story is as toasty as its campfire and swaddled in Stevenson's trusty artwork. (Fiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-689-81175-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1998
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