Stunning photographs and descriptive text place readers right in the heart of the rainforest for a memorable journey that will leave them wanting more. Starting with what to wear and bring, this text stands out in that it even describes the process of getting to the rainforest—much more than a simple plane ride. In fact, the journey is part of the adventure. “You” are the traveler in this vibrant world—your guides the native peoples. With each stop, new plants and creatures await discovery. Readers will experience a thunderstorm, a flood, and the thrill of climbing a tree into the canopy—yet another world. This is where orchids grow, monkeys and parrots live, and frogs can spend their entire lives, depositing their eggs in the water collected in bromeliads. Each two-page spread takes the reader a little farther on the journey, while also focusing on one specific aspect of the rainforest—animal camouflage, survival, the forest floor. Knight also devotes one of these sections to the “Jigsaw Puzzle” that is the rainforest; all the pieces—the plants and animals—need to be in place to make the complete picture that is a healthy ecosystem. Knight’s descriptive text paints mental pictures, and the photographs are breathtaking. Pages cluttered with bits and pieces of text accompanying insets of smaller pictures and boxes tend to be busy, but clear type helps tone it down. Although it includes a glossary and index, this is much more than just the facts—it’s engrossing storytelling. (Nonfiction. 7-11)
Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2001
ISBN: 0-19-521751-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
Thought-provoking and charming.
A sophisticated robot—with the capacity to use senses of sight, hearing, and smell—is washed to shore on an island, the only robot survivor of a cargo of 500.
When otters play with her protective packaging, the robot is accidently activated. Roz, though without emotions, is intelligent and versatile. She can observe and learn in service of both her survival and her principle function: to help. Brown links these basic functions to the kind of evolution Roz undergoes as she figures out how to stay dry and intact in her wild environment—not easy, with pine cones and poop dropping from above, stormy weather, and a family of cranky bears. She learns to understand and eventually speak the language of the wild creatures (each species with its different “accent”). An accident leaves her the sole protector of a baby goose, and Roz must ask other creatures for help to shelter and feed the gosling. Roz’s growing connection with her environment is sweetly funny, reminiscent of Randall Jarrell’s The Animal Family. At every moment Roz’s actions seem plausible and logical yet surprisingly full of something like feeling. Robot hunters with guns figure into the climax of the story as the outside world intrudes. While the end to Roz’s benign and wild life is startling and violent, Brown leaves Roz and her companions—and readers—with hope.
Thought-provoking and charming. (Science fiction/fantasy. 7-11)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-38199-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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