A pleaser for younger naturalists.
Mini-dossiers on 13 of the natural world’s thieves, tricksters, and other felons.
Tekavec’s criminals are wanted for infractions that include dangling a light in dark waters to draw unwary prey (anglerfish, aka “Ms. Jagged Jaws”), shooting a prospective mate with “a dart full of love hormones” (Roman snail, aka “Lil’ Cupid”), slipping an egg into another bird’s nest (common cuckoo, aka “Big Bad Mama”), or bullying rivals into sterility (naked mole rat queen, aka “Queenie the Meanie”). These and other bad actors are profiled with an M.O., a cartoon mug shot, and a fact-filled rap sheet. The author may stretch the premise a bit by including the wood frog, whose only misfeasance is spending winters as a frozen “Frogsicle,” and “Slippery Slick” the llama for leaving “spit-covered tourists at the ruins of Machu Picchu,” but the comical grimaces or expressions of popeyed dismay on Batori’s wild creatures give the whole rogues’ gallery a lighthearted, all-in-fun air. Kids will love learning about such revolting behaviors as antlion larvae’s pre-consumption digestion of their food. The author’s closing tally of animal commandments (“#3 All mothers are responsible for their own eggs”) serves as an artful recap/pop quiz to boot. Kids who find the likes of Jim Arnosky’s Tooth & Claw (2014) or Steve Jenkins’ Apex Predators (2017) a bit too, um, toothy are well served here.
A pleaser for younger naturalists. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0024-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
A refreshing dive past some of our world’s marine wonders.
Denizens of the deep crowd oversized pages in this populous gallery of ocean life.
The finny and tentacled sea creatures drifting or arrowing through Zommer’s teeming watercolor seascapes are generally recognizable, and they are livened rather than distorted by the artist’s tendency to place human eyes on the same side of many faces, Picasso-like. Headers such as “Ink-teresting” or “In for the krill” likewise add a playful tone to the pithy comments on anatomical features or behavioral quirks that accompany the figures (which include, though rarely, a white human diver). The topical spreads begin with an overview of ocean families (“Some are hairy, some have scales, some have fins and some are boneless and brainless!”), go on to introduce select animals in no particular order from sea horses and dragonets to penguins and pufferfish, then close with cautionary remarks on chemical pollution and floating plastic. The author invites readers as they go to find both answers to such questions as “Why does a crab run sideways?” and also a small sardine hidden in some, but not all, of the pictures. For the latter he provides a visual key at the end, followed by a basic glossary.
A refreshing dive past some of our world’s marine wonders. (index) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-500-65119-3
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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