Full-circle ecstasy.
Starting in southern Africa, where a girl named Cassi releases a healed swift into its flock, this picture book tells parallel tales of Beijing swifts’ migratory habits and the ongoing, ancient powers of the wind.
The spectacular artwork alone will draw in children too young to read the sparse, lyrical, yet informative text. Vibrant colors highlight dramatic, sometimes surreal landscapes, seascapes, and skyscapes. The first sentence is graceful and comforting: “Cassi cradles the swift in the palm of her hand.” The slender, brown-skinned girl stands atop a pile of rocks, gazing down at her tiny charge, which she’s nursed back to health. Animals, plants, and traditional Namibian (probably) homes are in the foreground and distant background, as are soaring swifts. Surprisingly, a hot air balloon hovers behind Cassi. After affirming the importance of the swift’s release back into the wild, the text highlights the seasonal changes preceding the flock’s departure. Meanwhile, complementary artwork depicts Cassi’s hot air balloon accompanying the earliest leg (ahem, wing) of the journey. After establishing the wind as the swifts’ home, the next pages concentrate on how the amazing power of the wind has shaped the many landscapes over which the birds fly for three straight months. Their nesting destination—pinpointed by a hazy Beijing skyline—includes an elated boy who welcomes the swifts as summer’s harbinger; the following double-page spread depicts a new generation of birds hatching in China, already awaiting the return trip to Africa.
Full-circle ecstasy. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1792-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
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BOOK REVIEW
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