by Linda Glaser & illustrated by Jaime Zollars ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2011
A great overview—for more specifics about each insect, check out Judy Allen’s Backyard Books series.
This look at how insects survive the cold may have young naturalists scouring the winter landscape to find them for themselves.
From those who migrate or hibernate to ones that hide or are still eggs, Glaser has assembled a wide variety of 12 of the more common insects, including ants, ladybugs, dragonflies, honeybees, monarchs, praying mantises and black swallowtail butterflies. Short verses present readers with how each gets through the winter, but a lack of rhythm and inconsistent rhymes make reading aloud a challenge: “If you were a gallfly in winter, / you’d still be a baby living in a gall. / You’d chew a little opening to get out in the spring. / But all winter you’d stay in that small round ball.” Backmatter provides a paragraph more of information on each of the 12. Gorgeous full-bleed illustrations filled with color and detail depict the insects in winter. Some need close inspection or pre-existing knowledge of what the insect looks like, as they can be hard to spot, and backmatter only pictures the adult. Many pages also include people, either observing the insects or going about wintertime amusements.
A great overview—for more specifics about each insect, check out Judy Allen’s Backyard Books series. (Nonfiction. 5-9)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7613-5644-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
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by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2010
Hee haw.
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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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by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2016
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...
Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.
This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.
Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6649-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
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