Combining visual verve with a sense of our worldwide connectedness, this both teaches and entertains.
A playful subversion of animal abecedaries.
Heck plumbs 68 non-English languages for 26 animal names that begin with different letters or sounds than their English counterparts. Thus, “G is for Cat” for speakers of Spanish (gato), Ojibwe (gaazhagens), and Korean (goyangi). I is for fish, O for eagle, and S for Lion. Frequent last-place-holder zebra is under V here—“Varikkutirai,” in Tamil. Heck includes languages spanning the globe, including those of several Native American tribes. As she explains in her author’s note, some of the represented languages with non-Roman alphabets or alternate writing systems are transliterated to represent the sounds that speakers make when saying the animal name. Against richly colored backgrounds, the black-and-white scratchboard illustrations dramatically employ contrast and texture. Hand-lettered display type enhances the visual drama and zestfully celebrates the multiplicity of animal names. Cleverly, each letter is hidden somewhere in the composition of its illustrated page, adding an A-to-Z seek-and-find element for children. Readers are also invited to use publisher-supplied links to hear native or fluent speakers pronounce the animal names. An alphabetized index links the languages to their respective letter(s). Cultural or geographical addenda might have further enhanced children’s understanding of this package’s truly global nexus. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Combining visual verve with a sense of our worldwide connectedness, this both teaches and entertains. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64614-127-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Facts about chlorophyll combine with a sense of wonder.
Art and text move through summer, fall, winter, and spring to explain the science behind the seasonal changes in deciduous trees.
“What kinds of leaves do you see in the summer?” The opening double-page spread has a stark white background. Seventeen different trees are represented by a scattered array of leaves—each carefully labeled—in many gradations of green. The enticing collage art uses negative space to show the veins. The page turn leads to additional glorious art, affirming the text’s use of such words as “emerald” and “jade.” Lush canopies of summer leaves part just enough to reveal, in the distance, people and a dog paddling a red canoe across a lake. Although all the illustrations concentrate on tree leaves, they occasionally include similar scenes of seasonal human activities—subtle reminders that humans are also affected by nature’s cycles. The text uses some anthropomorphism (trees and/or their leaves conceal “secrets,” “wait,” “make food,” and sleep) as it introduces young readers to chloroplasts, chlorophyll, plant cells, and the process of photosynthesis as well as the role of fallen leaves in an ecosystem. After the final double-page spread, which reveals a world returned to springtime, there are two pages written in a straightforward, scientific manner, supplementing the earlier text with further information about leaves—including differentiation between deciduous trees and evergreens and the names and characteristics of pigments hidden beneath a leaf’s chlorophyll.
Facts about chlorophyll combine with a sense of wonder. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5415-2899-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
The gimmick may prove a draw, but topicwise there are some major holes.
Acetate-covered cutout windows invite fledgling readers to take peeks at human body systems.
It’s a select tour, featuring just the five basic senses, bare nods at the endocrine and immune systems, and no mention of reproduction at all. The uncredited writer makes clear efforts to keep the descriptive notes nontechnical, with uneven results. Most eyebrow-raising are a claim that “you have tiny hairs all over your body to keep you warm” and contradictory information about whether heart muscles contract with or without commands from the brain. Still, the focus on function rather than terminology properly lays a sturdy foundation for more extensive inquiries children may pursue in the future. Along with inside views and close-ups of isolated organs, Alice’s schematic illustrations feature a carefully diverse cast, including a child in a wheelchair and an older adult with a cane on a page leadingly titled “The Same Inside.” The body-shaped windows, acetate printed on both sides to present front and back views, are stacked to suggest how at least some of the seven systems are “always working together, like a machine,” and a final appeal to keep that machine ticking by eating properly and exercising ends the tour on a cogent note.
The gimmick may prove a draw, but topicwise there are some major holes. (Informational novelty. 6-8)Pub Date: March 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1725-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
