A well-meaning but ultimately unsuccessful blend of eco-awareness and aquaculture.
A wild stork receives some loving care when it becomes caught in netting on Maya’s kibbutz during the annual migration from Africa to Israel.
Maya’s abba is a fish farmer and each year protects his stock from hungry, swooping storks by placing netting across the ponds. But when one stork’s feet become entangled, she breaks her wing in her struggle to free herself. Maya rescues and cares for the injured stork, naming her Yaffa, “pretty” in Hebrew. As Yaffa heals, a pair of storks make their nest in a tree on the kibbutz, producing three little chicks. When the mother leaves, never to return, the male stork, named Tzadok (“righteous”) by Maya, remains but needs a partner to scavenge for and feed the chicks. Yaffa is gently introduced and placed in the nest to help the young family until the chicks are ready to fly. Watercolors in muted natural hues on textured paper add a sense of serenity to the tale. It is unusual in its depiction of an Israeli kibbutz, though it does little to portray the distinctiveness of kibbutz life, beyond references to the other farmers; the focus on Maya’s altruistic act obscures the authentic portrayal of the collective business of farming fish.
A well-meaning but ultimately unsuccessful blend of eco-awareness and aquaculture. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4677-1395-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kar-Ben
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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