So much information presented that readers may well be pooped when they finish.
From bluebird and alpaca droppings to buffalo dung and termite frass, an upbeat guide to coprology, the study of feces.
Who knew that possums release a sticky green anal liquid when threatened, that some animals use defensive defecation to frighten predators, that moose poo makes good jewelry or that some animals practice coprophagia, or feces eating? If it’s possible for a nonfiction work to have too much information, this volume may be the case. But Cusick affects a compensatory subversive tone: This isn’t a work for squeamish adults; it’s for kids who supposedly delight in all things scatological, and they’re encouraged to “[j]ust hide the book in your backpack or your sock drawer and make sure [adults] don’t catch you grinning after you’ve been looking at it.” Who wouldn’t be grinning after reading about dung spiders that look like “a pile of poop,” plankton poo or the variations in color of Adélie penguin droppings? Rooted in a tremendous amount of research, as indicated by the two-page list of acknowledgments, this is a bright and inviting treatment of an unusual subject. Every page is packed with colorful photographs, and the text is an accumulation of snippets, a few sentences about each of the hundreds of topics. A browser’s delight.
So much information presented that readers may well be pooped when they finish. (further activities, glossary, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-936140-42-8
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Imagine Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An excellent choice for nature-loving elementary readers.
Footprints show the impact of human actions on Earth in this eco-friendly nonfiction picture book.
Swanson’s simple text, accompanied by clear, detailed photography, highlights the many different sizes and shapes of footprints. A photo of an elephant’s large prints shows a child leaping from one to the next alongside a photograph of the animals walking. Small footprints of insects and other animals are shown before the work showcases a diverse array of human footwear. Footprints “capture adventures at the greatest heights,” the book notes, showing paths on mountains and on the moon. The text moves on to metaphorical footprints, suggesting that young activists follow in the steps of historical changemakers, then briefly addresses digital and carbon footprints, further explained in notes at the back. Swanson’s accessible text is tailored to emergent readers, with few pages featuring more than one sentence; most passages stretch over multiple pages. The metaphorical footprints are likely to require adult discussion about what it means to leave behind traces of one’s actions. The selection of uncredited photos is excellent, with images from history and nature that are well suited to each idea; Rosa Parks and Greta Thunberg are among the changemakers featured. The text doesn’t name many of them, though, which will leave readers who don’t recognize them at a loss.
An excellent choice for nature-loving elementary readers.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4788-7603-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Reycraft Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Striking photographs of birds that might be seen in the eastern United States illustrate this new collection of 14 poems in varied forms. From bald eagle to marbled godwit, the range is wide. It includes familiar feeder birds like chickadees, birds of ponds and shores like wood ducks, hooded mergansers and sandpipers, as well as less-common birds like the great horned owl, rufous-sided towhee and cedar waxwings. Semple's splendid photographs show birds in the wild—flying, perched in trees or on slender reeds, running along the sand and even bunched on a boardwalk. The colors are true, and the details sharp; careful focus and composition make the birds the center of attention. Yolen’s poems comment on these birds’ appearances and their curious actions. An eastern kingbird is "a ninja of the air," and “...oystercatchers, unafraid, / Continue on their stiff parade.” The mockingbird’s “Threesome Haiku” matches his triple repetition of the tune he mocks. Some of the poetry limps, making an easy point rather than enlarging the reader’s understanding, but some is memorable. Perhaps most effective is the rhythmic “Terns Galore”: "Turning terns are all returning / There upon the shore." Short sidebars add interesting, informative details about each species and Donald Kroodsma, a well-known ornithologist, has added a short foreword. This is a welcome companion to A Mirror to Nature and An Egret’s Day (both 2009). (Informational poetry. 8-11)
Pub Date: April 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59078-830-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Wordsong/Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
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