Enlightening, interactive animal fun.
How tough could it be to find an elephant?
“Elephant journal” in hand, Alex, our tan-skinned young narrator, is determined to track down a pachyderm. Alex quizzes a giraffe and some meerkats but, while questioning a tree-twining boa, fails to notice a long, gray, fruit-plucking trunk below. As Alex talks to a rhino, the hindquarters of another pachyderm can be glimpsed disappearing into the underbrush. Crouching in a nest amid huge eggs, our oblivious narrator interrogates a cranky-looking vulture; later, Alex queries an irate lion, missing many elephants off in the distance. The next page reveals Alex inside the lion’s belly, consulting a zebra who’s also been eaten by the big cat (both are intact), while five elephants walk by outside, unseen. In a crocodile-infested river, Alex straddles an open jaw, overlooking the elephant group on the far shore (as well as the croc chomping on the narrator’s backpack). Perched on an enormous termite mound, Alex again misses out on the elephants. Finally, concluding that “elephants are so hard to find,” Alex pulls out a “Tiger Journal,” beginning a new quest by querying…an elephant! Delightful watercolorlike illustrations in earthy tones are engaging and will have kids eagerly pointing out everything that Alex misses—make room for this one at storytime. Three spreads feature pages from Alex’s journal, with facts on elephant families, intelligence, diet, and more.
Enlightening, interactive animal fun. (how to make your own journal, resources) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781525306747
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on.
Sharpson offers so-fish-ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas.
The title says it all. Our unseen narrator is just fine with other animals: mammals. Reptiles. Even birds. But fish? Don’t trust them! First off, the rules always seem to change with fish. Some live in fresh water; some reside in salt water. Some have gills, while others have lungs. You can never see what they’re up to, since they hang out underwater, and they’re always eating those poor, innocent crabs. Soon, the narrator introduces readers to Jeff, a vacant-eyed yellow fish—but don’t be fooled! Jeff’s “the craftiest fish of all.” All fish are, apparently, hellbent on world domination, the narrator warns. “DON’T TRUST FISH!” Finally, at the tail end, we get a sly glimpse of our unreliable narrator. Readers needn’t be ichthyologists to appreciate Sharpson’s meticulous comic timing. (“Ships always sink at sea. They never sink on land. Isn’t that strange?”) His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between extreme realism and goofy hilarity. He also fills the book with his own clever gags (such as an image of Gilligan’s Island’s S.S. Minnow going down and a bottle of sauce labeled “Surly Chik’n Srir’racha’r”).
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593616673
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
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