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WHAT IS BABY GORILLA DOING?

Name: WHAT IS BABY GORILLA DOING?
Author: Christena Nippert-Eng
ISBN: 978-1-62779-479-4

by Christena Nippert-Eng ; photographed by John Dominski ; Miguel Martinez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 2017

Quibbles aside, photos of cute animals doing cute things are an obvious slam-dunk.

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Babies, it seems, like to do a lot of the same things…even when one is a baby gorilla.

This winning board book capitalizes on children’s natural fascination with the animal kingdom to teach kids the names of 18 of their favorite activities. Beautifully photographed infant gorillas play, look, lift, sit, taste, clap, eat, and sleep, among other actions, all set against changing monochromatic backgrounds. A single gerund describes the action in each photograph. The layout has a clean, simple elegance. Regardless of one’s feelings about the origin of our species, it’s hard not to anthropomorphize these expressive little apes as they explore movement and sensory input. Children should have, for the most part, no difficulty relating the actions on each page to things they do in their own lives. Most deeds depicted are unambiguous, although, in the case of “looking,” it’s difficult to know if the ape is engaged by sight or by touch with the bowl in the photo. Similarly, in the photo illustrating “eating,” the gorilla is selecting a morsel of popcorn from a few scattered on the floor, not near the ape’s mouth. Kids may take the picture’s proffered explanation on faith, but it would have been simpler, perhaps, to show a young gorilla biting into a banana.

Quibbles aside, photos of cute animals doing cute things are an obvious slam-dunk. (Board book. 6 mos.-3)

Pub Date: June 13, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-62779-479-4

Page Count: 11

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
GORILLAS UP CLOSE
by Christena Nippert-Eng ; photographed by John Dominski & Miguel Martinez

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BUTT OR FACE?

by Kari Lavelle ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2023

A gleeful game for budding naturalists.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
ODE TO GRAPEFRUIT
by Kari Lavelle ; illustrated by Bryan Collier

- BOOK REVIEW
WE MOVE THE WORLD
by Kari Lavelle ; illustrated by Nabi H. Ali

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I LIKE THE FARM

From the I Like To Read series

by Shelley Rotner ; photographed by Shelley Rotner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 15, 2017

Simple, encouraging text, charming photographs, straightforward, unpretentious diversity, and adorable animals—what’s not to...

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This entry-level early reader/picture book pairs children with farm animals.

Using a simple, effective template—a full-page photograph on the recto page and a bordered spot photo above the text on the verso—Rotner delivers an amiable picture book that presents racially and ethnically diverse kids interacting (mostly in the cuddling department) with the adult and baby animals typically found on a farm. Chickens, chicks, cats, kittens, dogs, puppies, pigs, piglets, cows, and calves are all represented. While a couple of double-page spreads show the larger adult animals—pigs and cows—without a child, most of the rest portray a delighted child hugging a compliant critter. The text, simple and repetitive, changes only the name for the animal depicted in the photo on that spread: “I like the cat”; “I like the piglet.” In this way, reading comprehension for new readers is supported in an enjoyable, appealing way, since the photo of the animal reinforces the new word. It’s hard to go wrong combining cute kids with adorable animals, but special kudos must be given for the very natural way Rotner has included diversity—it’s especially gratifying to see diversity normalized and validated early, at the same time that reading comprehension is taught.

Simple, encouraging text, charming photographs, straightforward, unpretentious diversity, and adorable animals—what’s not to like? (Picture book/early reader. 2-6)