A whimsical reimagining of an obscure historical event.
Eggers lightly fictionalizes a little-known true story of moving house (quite literally).
“Like all of the best stories, this takes place in Idaho.” Sometime in the 1870s, a prospector’s dog located evidence of silver, and soon the Minnie Moore Mine was born. Not long after, the mine was sold to Henry Miller, making it Miller’s Minnie Moore Mine. After marrying and building a gigantic house (the Millers’ Minnie Moore Mine Mansion), Mr. Miller died. His widow, left with her son and the house and conned out of most of her money by a “crooked banker,” purchased pigs to raise and sell, but the folks in town had ordinances about that. Rather than leave her house behind, Mrs. Miller concocted a wild scheme (that actually worked) to move the house out of town. Readers with a low excrement tolerance may wish to steer clear, as Sardà takes a naughty pride in seeing how many bowel movements she can work into the earth-toned piggy spreads. Eggers, meanwhile, delights in language, pulling a very natural humor out of an already silly tale. Though the tale is set in 19th-century Idaho, mention is not made of displaced Indigenous populations, and the entire cast presents as White. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A whimsical reimagining of an obscure historical event. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9781536215885
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
This could engineer some future career ambitions.
What can you make?
Little kids with big ideas, imaginations, and aspirations might appreciate this compact book about engineers who accomplished big goals in various fields. Notably, almost all the engineers succinctly profiled herein are women—and, even more notably, women of color, among them Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina astronaut; Sangeeta Bhatia, an Indian American medical nanotechnologist; and Fei-Fei Li, a Chinese American engineer who specializes in artificial intelligence. The profiled male engineers include Apple whiz Steve Wozniak, electricity genius Nikola Tesla, and Gustave Eiffel, builder of his eponymous tower and designer of the “skeleton inside the Statue of Liberty.” Each scientist has one spread devoted to them, introducing “This little engineer” with a jaunty, clever four-line verse that explains the subject’s work in simple terms and offers a cartoonish, smiling, wide-eyed headshot of the scientist. The facing page colorfully depicts the engineer with a tiny body and enlarged head and describes their accomplishment with one or two explanatory sentences. The author manages to engineer an impressive amount of rudimentary information into a small space, though much of this will likely go over many readers’ heads—despite the board-book format, this content is geared to older readers. Additionally, each profile’s opener, “This little engineer,” reminiscent of “This Little Piggy,” is rather twee. Illustrations are vivid, but engineers’ faces generally aren’t individualized. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
This could engineer some future career ambitions. (11 additional engineers, an explanation of different engineering specialties) (Board book. 4-7)Pub Date: Jan. 17, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-66591-208-2
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sweeter than a scratch behind the ears.
A tail-wagging tribute to all the Spikes, Lassies, and other working and companion pooches in our lives.
Judge opens “long ago” (between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago), closes with a portrait gallery of 34 modern breeds, and in between traces the long history of our working association with the canine clan while celebrating the uniquely close and shared ties that have grown up in consequence…to the point that staring into a dog’s eyes produces in both brains oxytocin, the hormone that prompts human mothers to hug their babies. The heartwarming narrative is more than matched by the intense appeal of the cheery, alert, eminently pettable looking four-legged cast in the illustrations—seen willingly pulling sleds, guarding sheep, sniffing out truffles and disease, curled up in laps or in bed, providing guidance or aid to a racially diverse array of people in physical or emotional need, and gazing winningly up at visitors to an animal shelter…not to mention bestowing multiple eager greetings and face licks to smiling children. “In almost every way imaginable, they have cared for us,” the author concludes. “But perhaps the most important thing dogs and humans can share is…love.” Backmatter features profiles of 10 famous canines as well as a timeline, a list of sources, and an author’s note. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sweeter than a scratch behind the ears. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 18, 2023
ISBN: 9781419755446
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
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