A fine introduction for whale aficionados and a clarion call for climate change awareness.
Meet a beautiful denizen of the sea.
Bowhead whales are the longest-living mammals on Earth—they can live for over 200 years—and spend their entire, mostly solitary, lives in and around the Arctic. This well-written nonfiction title provides an up-close–and-personal look at one endearing female bowhead, drawing young readers in and evoking empathy. Boersma and Pyenson recount the various perils she faces, including predators and changes to her habitat due to technological advances and climate change. The economical text describes the majestic creature’s characteristics and behavior and incrementally tracks her development from infancy to adulthood through four stages, each spanning 50 years. The book’s warm portrayal of the very vocal whale is occasionally slightly anthropomorphic, but this enhances its appeal to the young target audience, as does the liberal use of evocative onomatopoeic words, rendered in large capitals. The pleasant realistic illustrations, created with watercolor, gouache, and colored inks and finished digitally, are soft and lively and appropriately emphasize blues, whites, and the vastness of the ocean. Sharp-eyed readers will note various Arctic animals who share the bowhead’s habitat. Details in the scenery, both on land and at sea, reflect the various historical periods. Excellent backmatter material includes additional facts about bowheads and information about other Arctic creatures, the Northwest Passage, and Inuit people in the Arctic. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A fine introduction for whale aficionados and a clarion call for climate change awareness. (author's note) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 24, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-80302-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on.
Sharpson offers so-fish-ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas.
The title says it all. Our unseen narrator is just fine with other animals: mammals. Reptiles. Even birds. But fish? Don’t trust them! First off, the rules always seem to change with fish. Some live in fresh water; some reside in salt water. Some have gills, while others have lungs. You can never see what they’re up to, since they hang out underwater, and they’re always eating those poor, innocent crabs. Soon, the narrator introduces readers to Jeff, a vacant-eyed yellow fish—but don’t be fooled! Jeff’s “the craftiest fish of all.” All fish are, apparently, hellbent on world domination, the narrator warns. “DON’T TRUST FISH!” Finally, at the tail end, we get a sly glimpse of our unreliable narrator. Readers needn’t be ichthyologists to appreciate Sharpson’s meticulous comic timing. (“Ships always sink at sea. They never sink on land. Isn’t that strange?”) His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between extreme realism and goofy hilarity. He also fills the book with his own clever gags (such as an image of Gilligan’s Island’s S.S. Minnow going down and a bottle of sauce labeled “Surly Chik’n Srir’racha’r”).
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593616673
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
A lyrical and educational look at the water cycle.
Through many types of weather and the different seasons, water tells readers about its many forms.
“Sometimes I’m the rain cloud / and sometimes I’m the rain.” Water can make rainbows and can appear to be different colors. Water is a waterfall, a wave, an ocean swell, a frozen pond, the snow on your nose, a cloud, frost, a comet, a part of you. Throughout, Paterson’s rhyming verses evoke images of their own: “Soon the summer sun is back / and warms me with its rays. / I rise in rumbling thunderheads / like castles in the haze,” though at times word order seems to have been chosen for rhyme rather than meaning (“In fall I sink into a fog / and blanket chilly fields, / with pumpkins touched by morning frost / the harvest season yields”). Backmatter includes a diagram of the water cycle that introduces and describes each step with solid vocabulary, including “Collection” as a step in the process; “The Science Behind the Poetry,” which unpacks some of the poetic language and phrases; some water activities and explorations; conservation tips; and a list of other books from the publisher about water. Paterson’s full- and double-page–spread illustrations are just as magical as his verse, showing water in its many forms from afar and close up. Few people appear on his pages, but the vast majority of those are people of color.
A lyrical and educational look at the water cycle. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58469-615-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dawn Publications
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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