Cute, cozy, and rather relentlessly informative.
An introduction to the shaggy, big-eyed, impossibly appealing alpaca.
As Tillotson points out, alpacas are raised for their warm fleeces in both their native South America and in North America. To reinforce that connection, the paired illustrations show them being raised, tended, and shorn in similar ways side by side on hilly Andean meadows and in flatter, grassier, fenced-in fields. In both settings, long-necked adults and their little crias fetchingly flock, nuzzle, or gambol springily as the author barrages readers and listeners with basic facts, presented in appropriately bouncy rhymes and parallel blocks of smaller-type prose, all capped by further historical and husbandry notes at the end. It’s a heavy info-load, though delivered with infectious enthusiasm. Readers learn that alpacas were domesticated thousands of years ago in the Andes from their camelid cousin vicuñas and that they bear coats of 16 official colors in North America and 22 in South America, which are regularly removed without harm to the animals. Unlike sheep’s wool, alpaca fleece requires no chemical processing before being spun. The smiling human figures that Peru-born Chavarri slips into her outdoorsy scenes alternate between racially diverse ranchers in the north and, in the south, brown-skinned herders dressed in a mix of modern and traditionally designed and patterned fabrics in a variety of bright colors and earth tones.
Cute, cozy, and rather relentlessly informative. (author’s and illustrator’s notes, glossary, selected sources) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781665942027
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another playful imagination-stretcher.
Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.
As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.
Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781339049052
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A solid addition to the climate-change canon for those interested in saving a fragile world.
Dire consequences attend the unchecked melting of Arctic sea ice.
The more the ice melts, the more the Arctic climate changes. The more that air and ground temperatures rise, the more the frozen ecosystem’s inhabitants, including plants and insects, suffer from dwindling habitats; threats to food sources; and imbalances in feeding, breeding, and migration patterns. Solid information is packed into this brief work that lucidly raises the alarm for young readers, with each spread capturing the thrilling, chilling north in rich, dramatic blue swathes of seawater set off by icy glaciers and snowdrifts. Child-friendly, occasionally cluttered paintings, some with labels, highlight polar bears and their Arctic neighbors; a spread of vignettes illustrates how changes to plant life affect wildlife. One labeled spread explains all: As seawater warms, it absorbs sunlight, thus heating more water and melting more ice. One poignant spread depicts a bewildered polar bear mom, eyeing readers and flanked by her twin cubs, drifting on a shrinking ice floe. Two human children, one brown-skinned and one pale, occasionally appear in the illustrations as well. The book ends on a hopeful note, reassuring youngsters that “we still have time to save polar bears and slow the loss of Arctic ice.” A note in the backmatter offers conservation tips.
A solid addition to the climate-change canon for those interested in saving a fragile world. (author’s note, bibliography, additional sources) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-14319-8
Page Count: 42
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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