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 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
A lyrical and educational look at the water cycle.
Through many types of weather and the different seasons, water tells readers about its many forms.
“Sometimes I’m the rain cloud / and sometimes I’m the rain.” Water can make rainbows and can appear to be different colors. Water is a waterfall, a wave, an ocean swell, a frozen pond, the snow on your nose, a cloud, frost, a comet, a part of you. Throughout, Paterson’s rhyming verses evoke images of their own: “Soon the summer sun is back / and warms me with its rays. / I rise in rumbling thunderheads / like castles in the haze,” though at times word order seems to have been chosen for rhyme rather than meaning (“In fall I sink into a fog / and blanket chilly fields, / with pumpkins touched by morning frost / the harvest season yields”). Backmatter includes a diagram of the water cycle that introduces and describes each step with solid vocabulary, including “Collection” as a step in the process; “The Science Behind the Poetry,” which unpacks some of the poetic language and phrases; some water activities and explorations; conservation tips; and a list of other books from the publisher about water. Paterson’s full- and double-page–spread illustrations are just as magical as his verse, showing water in its many forms from afar and close up. Few people appear on his pages, but the vast majority of those are people of color.
A lyrical and educational look at the water cycle. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-58469-615-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dawn Publications
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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