Like an internet kitty video in book form, this should have young cat fanciers lapping it up
Cats are more than just adorable piano players and grumpy sloganeers.
Newman collects the life stories of 23 special pussycats and organizes them by the character attributes that best describe them. Each one is presented in a four- or five-page bio accompanied by full-color photos. Bambi, the deaf Siamese, is “awesome” because she, adopted purposefully by two deaf humans, learned several words in American Sign Language. Welsh puss Pudditat is “caring,” because he became a seeing-eye cat for his blind doggie buddy, Terfel, helping the pooch maneuver and giving him confidence. Hawaiian Kuli surfs and Australian Didga skateboards, among other tricks, making them “adventurous.” Humphrey was Prime Minister John Major’s “hardworking” mouser at 10 Downing St., and Californian cat Bubba actually attends human school, the very quintessence of “curious.” Between the kitty bios, veterinarian Gary Weitzman answers questions about cat behavior. There are a few breed descriptions and tips for training and ensuring a long and healthy life for pet kitties as well as “Just Fur Fun” facts and cat lore, including the 1877 experiment in Belgium that had cats delivering the mail and a comparison of “cat years” to human age. Cat behaviorist Mieshelle Nagelschneider supplies a foreword.
Like an internet kitty video in book form, this should have young cat fanciers lapping it up . (Nonfiction. 7-11)Pub Date: July 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4263-2734-6
Page Count: 160
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
An excellent choice for nature-loving elementary readers.
Footprints show the impact of human actions on Earth in this eco-friendly nonfiction picture book.
Swanson’s simple text, accompanied by clear, detailed photography, highlights the many different sizes and shapes of footprints. A photo of an elephant’s large prints shows a child leaping from one to the next alongside a photograph of the animals walking. Small footprints of insects and other animals are shown before the work showcases a diverse array of human footwear. Footprints “capture adventures at the greatest heights,” the book notes, showing paths on mountains and on the moon. The text moves on to metaphorical footprints, suggesting that young activists follow in the steps of historical changemakers, then briefly addresses digital and carbon footprints, further explained in notes at the back. Swanson’s accessible text is tailored to emergent readers, with few pages featuring more than one sentence; most passages stretch over multiple pages. The metaphorical footprints are likely to require adult discussion about what it means to leave behind traces of one’s actions. The selection of uncredited photos is excellent, with images from history and nature that are well suited to each idea; Rosa Parks and Greta Thunberg are among the changemakers featured. The text doesn’t name many of them, though, which will leave readers who don’t recognize them at a loss.
An excellent choice for nature-loving elementary readers.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4788-7603-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Reycraft Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Striking photographs of birds that might be seen in the eastern United States illustrate this new collection of 14 poems in varied forms. From bald eagle to marbled godwit, the range is wide. It includes familiar feeder birds like chickadees, birds of ponds and shores like wood ducks, hooded mergansers and sandpipers, as well as less-common birds like the great horned owl, rufous-sided towhee and cedar waxwings. Semple's splendid photographs show birds in the wild—flying, perched in trees or on slender reeds, running along the sand and even bunched on a boardwalk. The colors are true, and the details sharp; careful focus and composition make the birds the center of attention. Yolen’s poems comment on these birds’ appearances and their curious actions. An eastern kingbird is "a ninja of the air," and “...oystercatchers, unafraid, / Continue on their stiff parade.” The mockingbird’s “Threesome Haiku” matches his triple repetition of the tune he mocks. Some of the poetry limps, making an easy point rather than enlarging the reader’s understanding, but some is memorable. Perhaps most effective is the rhythmic “Terns Galore”: "Turning terns are all returning / There upon the shore." Short sidebars add interesting, informative details about each species and Donald Kroodsma, a well-known ornithologist, has added a short foreword. This is a welcome companion to A Mirror to Nature and An Egret’s Day (both 2009). (Informational poetry. 8-11)
Pub Date: April 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59078-830-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
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