Not essential, but a quick and lightweight introduction to the topic.
Visits to more than 18 islands and island groups.
With the intent of highlighting different types of islands, Lerwill jumps in no particular order from Australia’s Fraser Island (made of sand) to the Île de la Cité on Paris’ Seine, from the volcanic likes of Surtsey and Santorini to the wholly artificial Palm Jumeirah in the United Arab Emirates and the floating reed islands of the Uros on Lake Titicaca. His scattered observations about distinctive flora, fauna, and features at each stop often take a touristic slant—“People from around the world come to Easter Island to see the moai, but the statues are just one reason to come here”—which accords well with the illustrator’s postcard-style views of foreshortened landforms seen from high angles and decorated with stylized structures and wildlife. Younger naturalists may prefer closer glimpses like Jason Chin’s dazzling Island (2012) or broader ones such as Sabrina Weiss’ Amazing Islands (2020). Still, references to, for instance, the ways in which people on Gomera Island communicate by whistling or the mouthwatering Santorini snacks called tomatokeftedes offer armchair travelers at least a hint of the rewards of island hopping. Human figures are rare and too tiny to see clearly here. A world map with additional facts and a list of other islands to explore serve as backmatter. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not essential, but a quick and lightweight introduction to the topic. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-913519-22-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Welbeck Children's
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
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
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40.
From two Nobel Peace Prize winners, an invitation to look past sadness and loneliness to the joy that surrounds us.
Bobbing in the wake of 2016’s heavyweight Book of Joy (2016), this brief but buoyant address to young readers offers an earnest insight: “If you just focus on the thing that is making / you sad, then the sadness is all you see. / But if you look around, you will / see that joy is everywhere.” López expands the simply delivered proposal in fresh and lyrical ways—beginning with paired scenes of the authors as solitary children growing up in very different circumstances on (as they put it) “opposite sides of the world,” then meeting as young friends bonded by streams of rainbow bunting and going on to share their exuberantly hued joy with a group of dancers diverse in terms of age, race, culture, and locale while urging readers to do the same. Though on the whole this comes off as a bit bland (the banter and hilarity that characterized the authors’ recorded interchanges are absent here) and their advice just to look away from the sad things may seem facile in view of what too many children are inescapably faced with, still, it’s hard to imagine anyone in the world more qualified to deliver such a message than these two. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Hundreds of pages of unbridled uplift boiled down to 40. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48423-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
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