A sweet, enjoyable book about an intriguing animal.
Welcome to the world of this endearing Australian marsupial.
Young readers will learn lots about koalas from zoologist Daniels’ lively, fact-packed, well-organized field guide. Koalas are cuddly and adorable, and they’re fascinating, complex, and, sadly, endangered as well. From the beginning, the book casts readers in the role of an animal scientist, instructing them in such important matters as the equipment actual koala experts employ to locate and study the creatures in the wild. Children glean essential facts about the koala, including its scientific name, mating habits and reproduction, diet, anatomy, life span, relatives, habitat, and more. Facts are clearly presented, delivered in a conversational tone, with salient information offered up on discrete pages. Additionally, children are helped to differentiate between koalas and bears, for which they are commonly mistaken, and guided to understand the numerous serious environmental threats they face. Some koala myths and legends are even included. The attractive volume features illustrations rather than photographs; koalas and other Australian animals are shown in realistic settings, with text and images set against colored backgrounds. This installment in the Young Zoologist series will be a welcome addition in public and school libraries and will win fans among appreciative animal-loving casual browsers as well as report writers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A sweet, enjoyable book about an intriguing animal. (glossary, index) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-68449-283-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neon Squid/Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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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