An attractive addition to the nature shelf.
An alphabetic exploration of the world of birds.
This picture book presents a collection of fascinating facts about birding and feathered creatures. Entries range from Aves, the “class of warm-blooded vertebrates” to which our avian friends belong, to flyway Zones, “the migratory routes that birds follow.” Using simple rhyming quintains elaborated by sidebars of exposition, the text discusses body parts, habits, habitats, survival threats, and more. The connections between the featured alphabetized words and sidebar topics are often clever. For example, Lovebirds leads into the subject of bird courtship, and Updraft introduces information about bird flight. Wilbur invites readers to become bird-watchers, perhaps by joining the annual Christmas Bird Count, and offers birding pointers in the backmatter. Variations in the position of sidebars, the number of letters featured on each double-page spread, and the rhyming scheme create visual and textual interest. Atkins’ richly detailed realistic illustrations use vibrant colors and varying points of view. With satisfying accuracy (the exception being a tree-clinging chickadee), he shows the species in their various habitats, sometimes with human characters present who have skin tones that range from pale to dark brown. The poems and illustrations will be accessible to younger children; the nonfiction sections are suitable for independent readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.) (This review has been updated for factual accuracy.)
An attractive addition to the nature shelf. (parts of a bird, glossary, bird conservation tips) (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: March 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-53411-140-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Nine-year-old Hank Wolowitz fears the prospect of fourth grade at New York’s PS 166 without friends—his best friend Alexander just moved away (against his will). Sasha Chin from downstairs doesn’t really count as a friend, because she has three good girl friends she hangs out with half the time. When Hank reaches for a Lego piece under the sink of his family’s ice-cream shop, Big Round Pumpkin, and feels fur where it shouldn’t be and days later sees a waffle cone disappear bite by bite, he knows something is fishy. After Rootbeer, the neighbor’s dog, goes bananas barking at nothing in the hallway, Hank discovers he has accidentally saved an invisible, furry Bandapat named Inkling. Inkling, who loves squash and can be a stranger to the truth, feels he owes Hank a debt and must stick around until he can save Hank’s life. An opportunity for that just might arise, since bully Bruno Gillicut has decided that Hank annoys him and must pay by forking over his dessert at lunch every day. Jenkins’ possible series starter (given the hints at the close) is a gently humorous and nicely realistic (with the obvious exception of the invisible Peruvian Bandapat) tale about coping with the loss of a lifelong best friend. (The book will feature Bliss’ signature black-and-white illustrations, but no art was available at the time of review.) Anyone who who has ever had an imaginary friend will appreciate sassy Inkling (who’s invisible—not imaginary). (Fantasy. 7-10)
Pub Date: April 26, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-180220-1
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure.
It’s not truffles but doubloons that tickle this porcine wayfarer’s fancy.
Funke and Meyer make another foray into chapter-book fare after Emma and the Blue Genie (2014). Here, mariner Stout Sam and deckhand Pip eke out a comfortable existence on Butterfly Island ferrying cargo to and fro. Life is good, but it takes an unexpected turn when a barrel washes ashore containing a pig with a skull-and-crossbones pendant around her neck. It soon becomes clear that this little piggy, dubbed Julie, has the ability to sniff out treasure—lots of it—in the sea. The duo is pleased with her skills, but pride goeth before the hog. Stout Sam hands out some baubles to the local children, and his largess attracts the unwanted attention of Barracuda Bill and his nasty minions. Now they’ve pignapped Julie, and it’s up to the intrepid sailors to save the porker and their own bacon. The succinct word count meets the needs of kids looking for early adventure fare. The tale is slight, bouncy, and amusing, though Julie is never the piratical buccaneer the book’s cover seems to suggest. Meanwhile, Meyer’s cheery watercolors are as comfortable diagramming the different parts of a pirate vessel as they are rendering the dread pirate captain himself.
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure. (Adventure. 7-9)Pub Date: June 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37544-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
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