by Beryl Young ; illustrated by Sakika Kikuchi ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 25, 2021
A true homage to these wondrous creatures.
Young humpback whales have much in common with human children.
A very young child describes the life of a mother humpback whale and her calf and how it mirrors their own. The whale mother keeps her baby safe so it can grow and learn, as does the narrator’s own human mother. Both mothers care for their offspring with great tenderness and love. As the child and the baby whale grow bigger and stronger, they can do more things on their own. Both youngsters find excitement jumping and diving in the water. There are many more similarities. Blowing a plume matches blowing bubbles, and both can shout and sing. The whale and the child can cuddle with their moms as they fall asleep to dream of their shared worlds. The child describes the whale’s actions as if speaking directly to the creature, employing lovely, soaring language that reflects great admiration and wonder for all humpback whales. The child narrates their own actions more simply, with joy and excitement at growing stronger and more able. As each of the whales’ life experiences is followed by the child’s comparison, Kikuchi’s illustrations match the same pattern. The whales are shown in their home environment in the vastness of the blue sea while the child is seen on shore in the brightness of the sun. These whales are shown accurately, with fins, flukes, knobs, and mouths in correct proportion and the beauty of their movements honored. Child and mother have olive skin and straight, black hair.
A true homage to these wondrous creatures. (afterword) (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: May 25, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77164-573-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greystone Kids
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
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by Beryl Young
by Andrew Knapp ; illustrated by Andrew Knapp ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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by Andrew Knapp ; photographed by Andrew Knapp
by Marion Dane Bauer ; illustrated by Ekua Holmes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018
Wow.
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Kirkus Reviews'
Best Books Of 2018
Coretta Scott King Book Award Winner
The stories of the births of the universe, the planet Earth, and a human child are told in this picture book.
Bauer begins with cosmic nothing: “In the dark / in the deep, deep dark / a speck floated / invisible as thought / weighty as God.” Her powerful words build the story of the creation of the universe, presenting the science in poetic free verse. First, the narrative tells of the creation of stars by the Big Bang, then the explosions of some of those stars, from which dust becomes the matter that coalesces into planets, then the creation of life on Earth: a “lucky planet…neither too far / nor too near…its yellow star…the Sun.” Holmes’ digitally assembled hand-marbled paper-collage illustrations perfectly pair with the text—in fact the words and illustrations become an inseparable whole, as together they both delineate and suggest—the former telling the story and the latter, with their swirling colors suggestive of vast cosmos, contributing the atmosphere. It’s a stunning achievement to present to readers the factual events that created the birth of the universe, the planet Earth, and life on Earth with such an expressive, powerful creativity of words paired with illustrations so evocative of the awe and magic of the cosmos. But then the story goes one brilliant step further and gives the birth of a child the same beginning, the same sense of magic, the same miracle.
Wow. (Picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7883-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
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by Marion Dane Bauer ; illustrated by Hari & Deepti
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by Marion Dane Bauer ; illustrated by Richard Jones
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