Even speedy, strong, flexible, and athletic kids are sure to walk away from this humbled by the talent in the animal kingdom.
Indeed, our animal friends can outsqueeze, outstare, outhide, and outjump us all. Think you’d beat a chameleon at hide-and-seek? Think again. They have camouflage on their side, and they also have eyes that can swivel independently. Giraffes would win at basketball, anacondas at wrestling, kangaroos in the long jump, and elephants in weight lifting. An octopus’s flexibility would give it the advantage playing Twister, and who would even dream of playing tag with a porcupine? Backmatter includes a paragraph of further factual information about each featured animal as well as some easter eggs to spy in the illustrations. A final spread offers some activities to challenge kids in each of the STEM areas; in engineering, children might invent something that would give them the advantage. Teachers will love the idea of having students create new pages for the book with their own animal-human match-ups. Evans’ watercolor illustrations are appropriately humorous, and pointedly, none of the kid contestants are poor sports; all appear to be trying their best and having fun. The five children are racially diverse; one wears glasses; all are slim. Pair with Etta Kaner and David Anderson’s And the Winner Is (2013) for further humbling truths.
Absolutely fascinating . (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-58469-651-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dawn Publications
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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Sea otters are the key to healthy kelp forests on the Pacific coast of North America.
There have been several recent titles for older readers about the critical role sea otters play in the coastal Pacific ecosystem. This grand, green version presents it to even younger readers and listeners, using a two-level text and vivid illustrations. Biologist Buhrman-Deever opens as if she were telling a fairy tale: “On the Pacific coast of North America, where the ocean meets the shore, there are forests that have no trees.” The treelike forms are kelp, home to numerous creatures. Two spreads show this lush underwater jungle before its king, the sea otter, is introduced. A delicate balance allows this system to flourish, but there was a time that hunting upset this balance. The writer is careful to blame not the Indigenous peoples who had always hunted the area, but “new people.” In smaller print she explains that Russian explorations spurred the development of an international fur trade. Trueman paints the scene, concentrating on an otter family threatened by formidable harpoons from an abstractly rendered person in a small boat, with a sailing ship in the distance. “People do not always understand at first the changes they cause when they take too much.” Sea urchins take over; a page turn reveals a barren landscape. Happily, the story ends well when hunting stops and the otters return…and with them, the kelp forests.
A simple but effective look at a keystone species. (further information, select bibliography, additional resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8934-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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BOOK REVIEW
A slice of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood life is explored through a fictionalized anecdote about his dog Honey.
When 7-year-old Abe rescues a golden-brown dog with a broken leg, he takes the pup home to the Lincolns’ cabin in Knob Creek, Kentucky. Honey follows Abe everywhere, including trailing after his owner into a deep cave. When Abe gets stuck between rocks, Honey goes for help and leads a search party back to the trapped boy for a dramatic rescue. The source for this story was a book incorporating the memories of Abe’s boyhood friend, explained in an author’s note. The well-paced text includes invented dialogue attributed to Abe and his parents. Abe’s older sister, Sarah, is not mentioned in the text and is shown in the illustrations as a little girl younger than Abe. All the characters present white save for one black man in the rescue crew. An oversized format and multiple double-page spreads provide plenty of space for cartoon-style illustrations of the Lincoln cabin, the surrounding countryside, and the spooky cave where Abe was trapped. This story focuses on the incident in the cave and Abe’s rescue; a more complete look at Lincoln’s life is included in an appended timeline and the author’s note, both of which include references to Lincoln’s kindness to animals and to other pets he owned.
This heartwarming story of a boy and his beloved dog opens the door for further study of our 16th president. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-269900-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S HISTORY
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