With a colorful layout and plentiful photographs, this nonfiction book for younger readers explores cats in history, from honored Egyptian animals through their wartime work to today’s lovable therapy cats.
Readers may be familiar with cat mummies and some of the various breeds, but MacLeod goes beyond common factoids to share more-surprising information: it was a crime to kill cats in ancient Egypt; much of Europe could have been spared the Black Death by cats; and stealthy felines detected hidden spy equipment during the Cold War. Each chapter begins with an imagined narrative—most are told from a cat’s perspective—that doesn’t match the straightforward nonfiction tone of the book. The chapters are related in short, choppy sections filled with many blurbs, sidebars, and callouts. While most of the side notes are interesting, in one busy chapter on lucky cats, they are actively disruptive and disorganized. Not all of the book’s featurettes are helpful, and some may actually confuse, as in an instance when not all cats pictured are described while some cats described are not pictured. Disappointingly, the book ends abruptly without a reflection on any of the incredible history or stories shared.
Even ailurophobes can appreciate the fascinating information about felines, provided they can get through the confusing layout and some unhelpful sidebars. (timeline, places to visit, sources, further reading, photo credits, index) (Nonfiction. 8-11)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-55451-994-1
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S HISTORY
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This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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Cusick floats a slick, select gallery of nature’s spitters, nose-pickers, oozers, and slimers—most but not all nonhuman—atop nourishing globs of scientific information.
Title notwithstanding, the book is limited just to mucus and saliva. Following introductory looks at the major components of each, Cusick describes their often similar uses in nature—in swallowing or expelling foreign matter, fighting disease, predation and defense, camouflage, travel, communication (“Aren’t you glad humans use words to communicate?”), home construction, nutrition, and more. All of this is presented in easily digestible observations placed among, and often referring to, color photos of slime-covered goby fish, a giraffe with its tongue up its nose, various drooling animals, including a white infant, and like photogenic subjects. Two simple experiments cater to hands-on types, but any readers who take delight in sentences like “Some fungus beetles eat snail slime mucus” come away both stimulated and informed.
What better way to make natural history slide down easily? (index) (Nonfiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63322-115-4
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Moondance/Quarto
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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