by Catherine Veitch ; illustrated by Fermin Solis ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2019
Thin on both fun and facts.
An invitation to pick out anachronistic (or downright daffy) details in nine Mesozoic scenes.
Spotting the odd hat or potted plant, roller skates, skis, and other zingers that Solis slips into his moderately crowded cartoon scenes won’t be much of a challenge for most young dinophiles, as there are only five per spread, two of which are virtually pointed out with heavy hints delivered by a pair of human tour guides, and there is a visual key at the end. Perhaps to compensate for setting the bar so low, the author and illustrator repeatedly don’t play fair—designating the rainbow-crested Guaibasaurus specimen bogus, for instance, for the weak reason that “scientists don’t think [its crest] was rainbow colored,” and slipping a chicken and a duck in among such similarly feathered predecessors as Bambiraptor, which is even described as “look[ing] like a purple duck or chicken.” Just to muddy the waters a bit more, each picture also includes an unlikely element that is actually correct (“Omeisaurus had a neck which was four times longer than its body”), and the introductory comments include a claim that “Earth was a scorching hot, dry desert when dinosaurs first appeared,” which is both overly general about our planet’s land masses and ignores the oceans. One of the tour guides presents Asian and the other white.
Thin on both fun and facts. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-78603-477-9
Page Count: 24
Publisher: QEB Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
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by Catherine Veitch ; illustrated by Duncan Beedie
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 Catherine Barr ; illustrated by Christiane Engel
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by Catherine Barr ; illustrated by Hanako Clulow
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by Catherine Barr & Steve Williams ; illustrated by Amy Husband
by Connie Collins Morgan ; illustrated by Herb Leonhard ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2018
The fisherman’s wife gets, as usual, short shrift…but this is a rollicking rendition, particularly well-suited to reading...
A familiar folk tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, transplanted to the bayou.
Swamp creatures intone a rhythmic chorus—“ ‘The fish was a-splashin’ as Paul went a-crashin’ / down to the bottom of the boat.’ / Kerplunk!”—each time the fisherman rows out to beg another wish of the talking sac-a-lait (the crappie suffers, she wails, under a spell from the evil swamp queen) at the behest of his ambitious wife, Paulette. So it is that Paulette gets a new pot, then goes from a cook whose gumbo earns raves from all over to mistress of a big house in a wealthy neighborhood. But her ultimate demand to be queen of the Mardi Gras Ball leaves the couple as poor yet happy as they began. Unlike the wife in another Cajun version, Whitney Stewart’s Catfish Tale, illustrated by Gerald Guerlais (2014), Paulette never takes any action to redeem herself. But Paul comes off as kindhearted rather than henpecked; so much so, in fact, that he gets one final, unspoken wish, which he bestows on the sac-a-lait herself. And soon a magnificent new Mardi Gras queen is crowned. Both as fish and, later, queen, the sac-a-lait sports glamorous, long-lashed blue eyes and lush red lips in Leonhard’s comically hyperbolic illustrations. Paul and Paulette present as white, but along with showing a range of ruddy bronze skin tones, the whole, robust human cast includes some African-American members.
The fisherman’s wife gets, as usual, short shrift…but this is a rollicking rendition, particularly well-suited to reading aloud. (afterword, glossary) (Picture book/folk tale. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4556-2366-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pelican
Review Posted Online: Oct. 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
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