by Idan Ben-Barak ; illustrated by Philip Bunting ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2023
Sneakily cerebral for all its apparent simplicity.
A look back at the beginnings of life on Earth, capped by a populous double-gatefold family tree.
In a concise yet pithy, playful, and deeply insightful storyline that dovetails nicely with Karen Krossing’s One Tiny Bubble, illustrated by Dawn Lo (2022), Ben-Barak and Bunting begin by pointing out that despite diverse looks and likes, we all have one thing in common: life. And what is that? Following definitions proposed by a gallery of unidentified thinkers, including cartoon-style but recognizable versions of Darwin (“Self-reproduction with variation!”) and Spinoza (“A mechanism”), the scene shifts back to our planet’s early days to track the assembly of loose elements into complex molecules, then simple organisms that could make copies—each, moreover, “a Little Bit Different.” A “while” later (“Literally billions of years,” as a footnote explains), here we are…bursting into view on the climactic gatefold in teeming lines of developing flora and fauna that all, from single-celled prokaryotes at the bottom to a dark-skinned, shorts-wearing preteen near (not at) the top, share both life and slightly stunned expressions conveyed by googly pop eyes. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Sneakily cerebral for all its apparent simplicity. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-85079-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
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by Idan Ben-Barak ; illustrated by Julian Frost with photographed by Linnea Rundgren
by Kate Messner ; illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2022
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature.
In a new entry in the Over and Under series, a paddleboarder glimpses humpback whales leaping, floats over a populous kelp forest, and explores life on a beach and in a tide pool.
In this tale inspired by Messner’s experiences in Monterey Bay in California, a young tan-skinned narrator, along with their light-skinned mom and tan-skinned dad, observes in quiet, lyrical language sights and sounds above and below the sea’s serene surface. Switching perspectives and angles of view and often leaving the family’s red paddleboards just tiny dots bobbing on distant swells, Neal’s broad seascapes depict in precise detail bat stars and anchovies, kelp bass, and sea otters going about their business amid rocky formations and the swaying fronds of kelp…and, further out, graceful moon jellies and—thrillingly—massive whales in open waters beneath gliding pelicans and other shorebirds. After returning to the beach at day’s end to search for shells and to spot anemones and decorator crabs, the child ends with nighttime dreams of stars in the sky meeting stars in the sea. Appended nature notes on kelp and 21 other types of sealife fill in details about patterns and relationships in this rich ecosystem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79720-347-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
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by Kate Messner ; illustrated by MacKenzie Haley
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by Kate Messner ; illustrated by Heather Ross
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by Grace Lin & Kate Messner ; illustrated by Grace Lin
by Kari Lavelle ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2023
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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by Kari Lavelle ; illustrated by Nabi H. Ali
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