An altogether succinct, accessible guide to an intriguing aspect of the insect world.
Author/photographer Zakowski takes a close look at the life stages of moths.
The life cycle of a moth moves through the stages of egg, caterpillar, pupa, and adult; in this short work, the author tracks this growth process in text and pictures, using Cecropia moths as an example. It all begins with adults: A male and female mate, resulting in fertilized eggs. The female then lays the fertilized eggs, which are ready to hatch in about two weeks. Small caterpillars emerge and search for food. Over time, the caterpillars grow larger by undergoing a shedding process: “The skin of the caterpillar will work its way down as the caterpillar crawls forward, leaving the shed behind.” Once a caterpillar has reached its full size, it’s time to create a cocoon. The caterpillar surrounds itself completely with silk strands, and the metamorphosis takes place inside the cocoon. Once the warmer months arrive, the moth emerges from this cocoon. After the moth is fully grown, it’s ready to start the cycle all over again. The author explains this process in simple language (a caterpillar’s “true legs help hold the leaves they eat”) and illustrates how everything works in striking color photographs. Zakowski describes different kinds of moths. For instance, the Bagworm caterpillar “makes a casing out of silk, leaves and twigs”; it then proceeds to stay inside the casing and carry it around “while it eats.” These novel bits of information seeded throughout the book are edifying, even if the text is occasionally dry. The author observes that some moths create cocoons “in the same fashion as the Cecropia caterpillar cocoon, but the shape is oval.” The prose isn’t electrifying, but it’s easy to follow, and this clear, direct approach is the book’s greatest strength. The work is brief, coming in at fewer than 100 pages, but readers will find much to marvel over.
An altogether succinct, accessible guide to an intriguing aspect of the insect world.Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2026
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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