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TO LIVE ON AN ISLAND

A heartfelt snapshot of a way of life.

A wide-format book in a style and subject matter reminiscent of Robert McCloskey’s old favorite Time of Wonder, this picture book describes life on an island in the San Juans, off the Washington coast.

An unnamed child of about 12 is seen waking up to the horn of the ferry, hiking through woods to get to the school bus stop, taking a field trip to the beach, collecting driftwood, catching crabs, kayaking, paddleboarding with friends, and generally enjoying the healthy outdoor pursuits of island life. Communication between an island and the mainland can take a while, and the mail truck and the local floatplanes are very important. Island residents get to experience all kinds of wildlife, from otters to orcas, and must rely on their own resources during storms and power outages. As the book states, “When you live on an island, things are different. Sometimes harder. Sometimes sweeter. Sometimes quieter. / Always magical.” Person’s soft watercolors convey this magic through a mix of close-ups and leisurely landscapes, with postcardlike insets of buildings and activities. The second-person narrative on each spread describes the child’s daily experiences, and supplemental panels give more detailed information about the natural world and animals special to the island, such as bald eagles and orcas. Both the protagonist and most of the secondary figures depicted seem white.

A heartfelt snapshot of a way of life. (Picture book. 6-12)

Pub Date: May 14, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-63217-181-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch

Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019

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BUTT OR FACE?

A gleeful game for budding naturalists.

Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.

In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: July 11, 2023

ISBN: 9781728271170

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore

Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023

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1001 BEES

Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.

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 13, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021

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