Montgomery’s imagined story is informed by her extensive knowledge and rings true; sadly, the illustrations are less...
Inky the octopus escapes again.
The author of The Soul of an Octopus (2015, for adults) provides a picture-book example of octopus intelligence in this latest account of the escape of an octopus named Inky from the New Zealand National Aquarium. Her well-paced narrative begins with his hatching in the wild, from an egg “the size of a grain of rice.” The writer weaves in plenty of informational details about octopuses’ physical characteristics and habits while she spins the likely story of his injury (two tentacles partially bitten off by a moray eel), accidental capture, and subsequent life in a public aquarium. The smooth prose invites children’s appreciation for this remarkable species, which even enjoy playing with familiar toys. A reassuring endnote explains that the octopus was “probably very happy in his tank at the aquarium.” But, like readers and listeners, he was curious, “eager to discover what else is out there.” Colorful, digitally finished illustrations created using various paints, oil pastel, and collage give a reasonable impression of the octopus’s world, but Inky’s popping eyes lack the characteristic, usually rectangular slit, and he’s shown as female. A New Zealand street scene has cars driving on the wrong side of the road.
Montgomery’s imagined story is informed by her extensive knowledge and rings true; sadly, the illustrations are less convincing. Still, this is the most plausible of many recent iterations of this great escape. (endnote, fun facts, further resources) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5344-0191-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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