A simple introduction and a solid addition to elementary-age collections.
Graphic artist Weinberg’s debut picture book introduces readers to different animal traits.
“Look closely!” On the verso, a green chameleon and a leaflike katydid blend in with the surrounding leafy trees: “Some animals blend into the background”; on the recto, a peacock stands with tail fully spread against a white background: “while others want to be seen by all.” In this book’s simple text and eye-catching illustrations, young readers can compare and contrast different animals and their traits: a small ladybug and an enormous blue whale, water-bathing Japanese macaques and mud-bathing hippos. The text is occasionally playful (“Some animals eat plants. / And some plants eat animals!”) and even surprising. “Some animals exist only in stories and legends” (a winged unicorn and jackalope, among other mythical creatures), “while others are real / but seem make believe” (a leafy sea dragon and a pangolin). Ben-Day–style digital illustrations portray many of the animals with a posed quality that occasionally veers into a flat affect, but the bright colors are engaging, and the images work effectively in tandem with the text. The final spread, featuring a beige-skinned child asleep in a room full of animal artifacts, asks the question “Which animal do you like best?” and invites readers to flip back to favorite spreads or move forward to the backmatter, which offers further facts about the animals portrayed.
A simple introduction and a solid addition to elementary-age collections. (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62414-580-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
A good choice for a late fall storytime.
Animal behaviors change as they prepare to face the winter.
Migrate, hibernate, or tolerate. With smooth rhymes and jaunty illustrations, Salas and Gévry introduce three strategies animals use for coping with winter cold. The author’s long experience in imparting information to young readers is evident in her selection of familiar animals and in her presentation. Spread by spread she introduces her examples, preparing in fall and surviving in winter. She describes two types of migration: Hummingbirds and monarchs fly, and blue whales travel to the warmth of the south; earthworms burrow deeper into the earth. Without using technical words, she introduces four forms of hibernation—chipmunks nap and snack; bears mainly sleep; Northern wood frogs become an “icy pop,” frozen until spring; and normally solitary garter snakes snuggle together in huge masses. Those who can tolerate the winter still change behavior. Mice store food and travel in tunnels under the snow; moose grow a warmer kind of fur; the red fox dives into the snow to catch small mammals (like those mice); and humans put on warm clothes and play. The animals in the soft pastel illustrations are recognizable, more cuddly than realistic, and quite appealing; their habitats are stylized. The humans represent varied ethnicities. Each page includes two levels of text, and there’s further information in the extensive backmatter. Pair with Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen’s Winter Bees (2014).
A good choice for a late fall storytime. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5415-2900-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Bruce Goldstone’s Awesome Autumn (2012) is still the gold standard.
Rotner follows Hello Spring (2017) with this salute to the fall season.
Name a change seen in northern climes in fall, and Rotner likely covers it here, from plants, trees, and animals to the food we harvest: seeds are spread, the days grow shorter and cooler, the leaves change and fall (and are raked up and jumped in), some animals migrate, and many families celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving. As in the previous book, the photographs (presented in a variety of sizes and layouts, all clean) are the stars here, displaying both the myriad changes of the season and a multicultural array of children enjoying the outdoors in fall. These are set against white backgrounds that make the reddish-orange print pop. The text itself uses short sentences and some solid vocabulary (though “deep sleep” is used instead of “hibernate”) to teach readers the markers of autumn, though in the quest for simplicity, Rotner sacrifices some truth. In several cases, the addition of just a few words would have made the following oversimplified statements reflect reality: “Birds grow more feathers”; “Cranberries float and turn red.” Also, Rotner includes the statement “Bees store extra honey in their hives” on a page about animals going into deep sleep, implying that honeybees hibernate, which is false.
Bruce Goldstone’s Awesome Autumn (2012) is still the gold standard. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3869-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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