A heartwarming tale of kinship and community.
The animals need the fire, but how will they get it?
According to Cherokee tradition, when the animals needed fire to keep them warm during cold nights, Great Thunder and his sons, the Thunder Boys, invoke a lightning bolt to strike and light fire to a lone sycamore tree. Seeing that the tree is located on a tiny island in the middle of a lake, the animals have a meeting to decide how to bring the fire back across the water. Raven tries, but his white feathers are scorched black in his unsuccessful attempt. Screech Owl, Hoot Owl, and Horned Owl all try, but the smoke nearly blinds them, permanently affecting their eyes. Racer Snake and Great Black Snake are also unsuccessful. Finally Water Spider, a tiny savior, boldly creates an ingenious way to bring fire back to the animal community, the bowl she weaves with her silk to carry an ember back becoming a permanent marking on her back. Black-outlined characters have a friendly, Saturday morning–cartoon look that nevertheless carries the story’s gravitas well. Moments of humor—Racer Snake swimming with a comically determined look on his face—balance painful ones. The animals sitting in solemn counsel are a combination of recognizable North American critters and some that are not so familiar, emphasizing that this is a story of creation. Wagnon is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, and therapist Stephenson serves the Cherokee Nation.
A heartwarming tale of kinship and community. (Picture book/cosmology. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-939053-27-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: 7th Generation
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor
Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.
The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”
A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
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