by Catherine Barr ; illustrated by Hanako Clulow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 3, 2017
Well-meant but too often oversimplified.
A set of elephant facts designed to spark lifelong interest in protecting these curious and unique creatures.
Like its subjects, the presentation has a few wrinkles. Though otherwise rendered realistically enough to tell the different types apart, the pachyderms first visible through a shaped cutout in the front cover sport oversized googly eyes. Labels identifying some of the flora and fauna visible in Clulow’s forest and grassland scenes are usually helpful, but seeing elephants tagged “African forest elephant” and “African savanna elephants” without explanation in the wake of the author’s statement earlier that there are only two species—Asian and African—is confusing. Otherwise, along with inset suggestions for ways to find out more or to get involved in elephant conservation, Barr does offer a set of simply phrased physical and behavioral observations—the titular reasons to love an elephant—that are strong in reader appeal: “1: They have the biggest noses in the world”; “6: They cuddle and care.” The co-published 10 Reasons to Love a Turtle shares the appeal but has cracks of its own. It’s really just about the seven kinds of sea turtles (an arbitrary limitation compounded by the bizarre claim that “all turtles live in the ocean”), and it features an animal cast that is all smiles (sharks included) and odd-looking eyes.
Well-meant but too often oversimplified. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-84780-942-1
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
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by Chelsea Clinton ; illustrated by Gianna Marino ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2019
A winning heads up for younger readers just becoming aware of the wider natural world.
An appeal to share concern for 12 familiar but threatened, endangered, or critically endangered animal species.
The subjects of Marino’s intimate, close-up portraits—fairly naturalistically rendered, though most are also smiling, glancing up at viewers through human eyes, and posed at rest with a cute youngling on lap or flank—steal the show. Still, Clinton’s accompanying tally of facts about each one’s habitat and daily routines, to which the title serves as an ongoing refrain, adds refreshingly unsentimental notes: “A single giraffe kick can kill a lion!”; “[S]hivers of whale sharks can sense a drop of blood if it’s in the water nearby, though they eat mainly plankton.” Along with tucking in collective nouns for each animal (some not likely to be found in major, or any, dictionaries: an “embarrassment” of giant pandas?), the author systematically cites geographical range, endangered status, and assumed reasons for that status, such as pollution, poaching, or environmental change. She also explains the specific meaning of “endangered” and some of its causes before closing with a set of doable activities (all uncontroversial aside from the suggestion to support and visit zoos) and a list of international animal days to celebrate.
A winning heads up for younger readers just becoming aware of the wider natural world. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-51432-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
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by Chelsea Clinton ; illustrated by Tania de Regil
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by Stacy McAnulty ; illustrated by Stevie Lewis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 9, 2021
Just the ticket for an armchair outing to the red planet.
Good news! Planet Marvelous is looking forward to visitors from Planet Awesome.
With the same exuberance that propelled readers deep into her Ocean! Waves for All (2020), illustrated by David Litchfield, and its three predecessors in the Our Universe series, McAnulty looks to the next planet out for a fresh set of enticing natural wonders. Billing itself a “party planet” (“I want to be the FIRST planet with human guests”), the russet raconteur trumpets its unique attractions. These range from moons Deimos and Phobos (“I know Earth is totally jealous”) to Olympus Mons and Valles Marineris, which is “four times as deep as the Grand Canyon! And not nearly as crowded.” Sure, unlike Spirit, Opportunity, and other rovers, human visitors will have to pack their own water and oxygen in addition to traveling millions of miles…but given a few technological advances, soon enough it’ll be time to “get this party started!” Prospective tourists diverse of age and race are dancing already on Earth in a final scene in anticipation of a trip to our “reMARkable” neighbor. Quiz questions and a timeline cap an enticement that echoes Susanna Leonard Hill’s Mars’ First Friends: Come on Over, Rovers! (2020), illustrated by Elisa Paganelli, in its fizzy mix of fact and fancy. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 75% of actual size.)
Just the ticket for an armchair outing to the red planet. (sources) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-25688-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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