by Cheryl Bardoe ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 16, 2021
Definitely deserves a spot, even on a well-stocked panda shelf.
In the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, D.C., a panda cub grows up.
Bardoe documents the early life of Bei Bei, one of the National Zoo’s most recent panda cubs, from a tiny ultrasound shadow in his mother’s womb to a bamboo grove in a Conservation and Research Center in Sichuan, China. Liberally illustrated with Smithsonian Institution images, this photobiography takes a close-up, intimate look at a panda in captivity. Like pandas in zoos all over the world, those born in Washington are officially Chinese; at the age of 4, they return to China to be part of an effort to promote panda recovery in the wild there. In the meantime, these charismatic animals draw flocks of visitors, in person and online. Bardoe’s thoughtfully crafted presentation chronicles important events in Bei Bei’s first four years with a headline and one to two paragraphs of text alongside a column of panda facts. Opposite each page of text is a page of photos (or, sometimes, a single, full-bleed image) with informative captions. The straightforward text is sprinkled with images as well. The pictures and information are well chosen for child appeal. The result is a title that will probably have considerable charm even to nonreaders. Final pages discuss pandas in the wild, their attraction for humans, and ways readers can help.
Definitely deserves a spot, even on a well-stocked panda shelf. (Nonfiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1763-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Candlewick Entertainment
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
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by Kate Messner ; illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2022
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature.
In a new entry in the Over and Under series, a paddleboarder glimpses humpback whales leaping, floats over a populous kelp forest, and explores life on a beach and in a tide pool.
In this tale inspired by Messner’s experiences in Monterey Bay in California, a young tan-skinned narrator, along with their light-skinned mom and tan-skinned dad, observes in quiet, lyrical language sights and sounds above and below the sea’s serene surface. Switching perspectives and angles of view and often leaving the family’s red paddleboards just tiny dots bobbing on distant swells, Neal’s broad seascapes depict in precise detail bat stars and anchovies, kelp bass, and sea otters going about their business amid rocky formations and the swaying fronds of kelp…and, further out, graceful moon jellies and—thrillingly—massive whales in open waters beneath gliding pelicans and other shorebirds. After returning to the beach at day’s end to search for shells and to spot anemones and decorator crabs, the child ends with nighttime dreams of stars in the sky meeting stars in the sea. Appended nature notes on kelp and 21 other types of sealife fill in details about patterns and relationships in this rich ecosystem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79720-347-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
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by Kari Lavelle ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2023
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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