More tools for young naturalists’ outdoor adventures.
Readers can now add animal houses to Butts (2018) and Tracks (2020) as ways to identify the presence of various animals.
With a format similar to that in Tekiela’s three previous works (Whose Track Is That?, 2020, etc.), the book presents readers with a double-page spread featuring some clues, the titular question, and an up-close photo of an animal home. After guessing, children can turn the page to find the answer, some facts, and a couple additional photos of the animal. Some clues are giveaways while others are more difficult: A small, round home the right size for “a mommy and her eggs” is a robin’s nest; and a warm, dry underground home continually occupied for up to six winter months is a black bear’s den. But some pictures may lead readers astray. While Tekiela writes of a home that “looks…like a mound of dirt…[that] also serves as a lookout,” his picture is an overhead view that looks like a hole. And savvy readers may argue with the author’s calling a monarch’s chrysalis and a garden spider’s web “houses.” The other featured North American animals are bald eagle, bald-faced hornet, American beaver, prairie dog, sunfish, cottontail rabbit, and common ant. Pronunciation and definitions are provided in the text. Tekiela’s macro images of the insects are standouts among the intriguing photos.
More tools for young naturalists’ outdoor adventures. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64755-074-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Adventure Publications
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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