A clear, well-organized presentation likely to make readers and listeners want to know more about the “Shark Lady” and her...
Fascinated with sharks from childhood, Eugenie Clark spent a lifetime researching these “magnificent and misunderstood” creatures.
At a time when women were discouraged from even entering professional fields, Eugenie Clark (1922-2015) pioneered shark research in and out of the water. She swam with sharks of all sorts. She opened the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory (now Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium) in Florida and proved that they could be trained. She dove into caves to see fearsome requiem sharks quietly being cleaned by tiny remora fish. Lang’s welcome picture-book biography introduces a trailblazing female scientist to very young readers and listeners. She demonstrates young Genie’s early passion by describing her weekly visits to the New York Aquarium, her childhood apartment full of fish and reptiles, and her habit of taking notes. She goes on to summarize a long, productive career with a few well-chosen examples. Her story is nicely rounded in text and illustrations with scenes showing Clark with her nose against the glass in the New York Aquarium as a child and from a submersible as an adult. Solano’s illustrations, mostly double-page spreads, emphasize the darkness and mystery of the underwater world; occasionally they include faux notebook pages with simple facts about the species. The prejudice Clark experienced as a Japanese-American is revealed only in the author’s note, however.
A clear, well-organized presentation likely to make readers and listeners want to know more about the “Shark Lady” and her favorite creatures. (more about sharks, selected sources) (Picture book/biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8075-2187-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories.
Kids know vegetables can be scary, but rarely are edible roots out to get someone. In this whimsical mock-horror tale, carrots nearly frighten the whiskers off Jasper Rabbit, an interloper at Crackenhopper Field.
Jasper loves carrots, especially those “free for the taking.” He pulls some in the morning, yanks out a few in the afternoon, and comes again at night to rip out more. Reynolds builds delicious suspense with succinct language that allows understatements to be fully exploited in Brown’s hilarious illustrations. The cartoon pictures, executed in pencil and then digitally colored, are in various shades of gray and serve as a perfectly gloomy backdrop for the vegetables’ eerie orange on each page. “Jasper couldn’t get enough carrots … / … until they started following him.” The plot intensifies as Jasper not only begins to hear the veggies nearby, but also begins to see them everywhere. Initially, young readers will wonder if this is all a product of Jasper’s imagination. Was it a few snarling carrots or just some bathing items peeking out from behind the shower curtain? The ending truly satisfies both readers and the book’s characters alike. And a lesson on greed goes down like honey instead of a forkful of spinach.
Serve this superbly designed title to all who relish slightly scary stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0297-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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