Good for budding botanists who enjoy puns.
One oak narrates its own tale—with diary entries, illustrations, and diagrams—from its inception as an acorn to nearing the status of “mighty oak.”
From the start, the oak’s voice is perky and laden with wordplay, accompanied by colorful artwork that is best described as cutesy. The art dutifully complements the text: For example, the oak makes a joke about pines and Christmas decorations, and from that page on, smiling pine trees sport small, round red balls—evoking ornaments—and lots of pale-green ribbons tied into bows. The diary conceit allows readers to get an idea of how long it may take for each stage of an oak’s life, and the illustrations provide clear depictions of the parts that sprout from an acorn. Entries are written simply, but the text is on the lengthy side for an effective read-aloud, and it carries a fairly heavy informational load. There are concise explanations of photosynthesis, heartwood, and sapwood and a brief mention of trees’ value in fighting climate change, expressed in the oak’s typical manner: “Not to be sappy, but trees make the world a better place.” The corny but not unclever monologue would be easy to convert into a skit for children to perform—wearing costumes much more interesting than the book’s cartoony trees with their inked-on smiles and round, sometimes lashed eyes. One page shows a child and two adults in the background, all apparently White. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 64% of actual size.)
Good for budding botanists who enjoy puns. (timeline, further resources) (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-525-57936-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
A mixed bag.
An alphabetical tour of emotions.
This British import mixes words that many young kids will know, such as brave, kind, and mad (the last defined in the American sense, as angry), with less-familiar ones such as overwhelmed and vulnerable. It even features at least one word that may be new to adults: “X is for Xenial….Xenial is being welcoming to strangers.” Compounding the difficulty here, the visual image of a Black kid dressed as a magician hugging a rabbit they’ve pulled out of a hat does not exactly illustrate xeniality (xenialness?). Other illustrations do a better job of helping readers understand the words being introduced. The illustrations feature racially diverse children and are usually paired in each double-page spread: “A is for Anxious. Anxious is feeling really worried about something. / B is for Brave. Brave is being nervous about something and doing it anyway.” On the A page, a brown-skinned kid cowers from the dragon that encircles their bed, as in a nightmare. Across the gutter on the B page, the ferociously scowling child confronts the now-intimidated monster. Kids will get an immediate sense of those two words. Animals, real and imaginary, often play a role in the pictures. The book will be best shared one on one or in very small groups, when children can really spend time examining the pictures and talking about their own impression of what is happening in each picture. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A mixed bag. (word list) (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-20519-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
An ideal lead-in to more specific guides to aquarium setup and fish care.
A first introduction to our planet’s finny residents, particularly the decidedly uncommon goldfish.
Preceded by an entire piscatorial ABC that extends over six pages, two children of color lecture an audience of house pets (and readers) about such typical fishy features as scales and gills—properly noting that some fish, like certain eels, have no scales and some, like hagfish, no bony spines. The two then zero in on goldfish, explaining that they are easier to keep at home than tropical fish, originated long ago in China, can recognize the faces of people who bring them food, and with proper care live 25 years. All of this information is presented in a mix of dialogue balloons and single lines of commentary in block letters, accompanying cleanly drawn cartoon illustrations that alternate between a domestic setting and labeled portraits of various fish rendered in fine, exact detail. With easily digestible doses of biological and historical background, common-sense cautionary notes, and a buoyant tone, this is an appealing dive for newly independent readers out to enhance the household menagerie.
An ideal lead-in to more specific guides to aquarium setup and fish care. (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943145-15-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: TOON Books & Graphics
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
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