Resplendent illustrations accompany solid text.
The ins and outs of chameleon behavior.
Slade and Gonzalez’s third book in a series that began with Behold the Octopus (2023), followed by Behold the Hummingbird (2024), carries on with a peek into the life of chameleons, of which there are more than 220 individual species. Slade uses a similar structure to her previous books. She introduces the reptile with two-level text: One word—usually a verb or adjective—appears on the left-hand side of the spread, while a longer paragraph appears on the right. All the text is set against Gonzalez’s gloriously illustrated full spreads. The word stalking is paired with text describing the chameleon’s ability to use its eyes independently so that “it may fix one eye on its tasty prey, while the other looks out for predators.” Each paragraph includes a mention of one species of chameleon, in the latter case, the African chameleon. On another page, clinging introduces the arboreal nature of the chameleon and the way it “curves its prehensile tail around a branch” to hold on to its home in the trees. For this entry, the jewel chameleon of Madagascar serves as an example, and the reptile appears almost beaded in the dazzling accompanying image. Featuring pastels, colored pencils, and airbrush, Gonzalez’s art is stupendous in comparison to the text, which is rich in facts but somewhat dry. Strangely, a lovely description about baby chameleons appears at the conclusion rather than at the beginning.
Resplendent illustrations accompany solid text. (photographs, selected bibliography, websites) (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9781682637340
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another playful imagination-stretcher.
Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.
As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.
Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781339049052
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort.
A look at the unique ways that 11 globe-spanning animal species construct their homes.
Each creature garners two double-page spreads, which Cherrix enlivens with compelling and at-times jaw-dropping facts. The trapdoor spider constructs a hidden burrow door from spider silk. Sticky threads, fanning from the entrance, vibrate “like a silent doorbell” when walked upon by unwitting insect prey. Prairie dogs expertly dig communal burrows with designated chambers for “sleeping, eating, and pooping.” The largest recorded “town” occupied “25,000 miles and housed as many as 400 million prairie dogs!” Female ants are “industrious insects” who can remove more than a ton of dirt from their colony in a year. Cathedral termites use dirt and saliva to construct solar-cooled towers 30 feet high. Sasaki’s lively pictures borrow stylistically from the animal compendiums of mid-20th-century children’s lit; endpapers and display type elegantly suggest the blues of cyanotypes and architectural blueprints. Jarringly, the lead spread cheerfully extols the prowess of the corals of the Great Barrier Reef, “the world’s largest living structure,” while ignoring its accelerating, human-abetted destruction. Calamitously, the honeybee hive is incorrectly depicted as a paper-wasps’ nest, and the text falsely states that chewed beeswax “hardens into glue to shape the hive.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort. (selected sources) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5625-9
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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