A splashing success.
Introducing the ocean’s most feared predator.
Stunning illustrations grace this account of a pregnant great white shark’s journey northward to warmer waters, where she will give birth in an unknown location. She finds food along the way—a young seal pup and, later, a sea turtle. The two-level narrative features a graceful read-aloud text and additional information in a smaller font. Writing in easily understood prose, Saxby discusses the great white’s appearance, ability to adjust body temperature, speed and power, hunting prowess, parental care (none—mother sharks don’t stick around after birth), undiscriminating appetite (great white taste buds distinguish only between food and not food), and lack of interest in humans. In her picture-book debut, Lane uses seawater and “found natural pigments” among other materials (watercolor, pastel, pencil, and digital drawing and collage), a nice touch. Color and light are used to great effect to convey the darkness of ocean depths and the changing hues of the water. Cutaway views add interest. The kills are dramatic but sensitively portrayed; the shark’s explosion out of the water to grab the turtle is a wonderful surprise. There are plenty of titles about this perennial favorite sea creature, but this could become a favorite. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A splashing success. (more information on great whites, index) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2503-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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