An interactive and educational story.
Animals explore a nature museum in Davis’ picture book.
A raccoon named Rodney and his pals visit the Dome-A-Roma, a science museum, where Professor Batfish—a creature with a human body and a head that’s a fish in a fishbowl—gives them a mission each day. Today, he tells them, “A special package is coming, and I’d really like to see if you can guess what it is before the clock strikes three.” The group explores the different sections of the museum, including the Woodland Dome and an underwater tunnel called the Aqua Dome. The group eventually compiles their clues, determining that the surprise is “A bird, black and white, that lives in cold weather!” Overall, the story’s concept accessibly introduces puzzle-solving skills. For example, Batfish communicates to the group via tablets, offering hints, such as that the surprise is “black and white.” Rodney spots a black-and-white whale and wonders whether the surprise is “big or small.” Later, the author encouragingly says that if a reader asks “questions and collect[s] all the clues…you would have guessed it’s a penguin too!” Debut artist Li’s cartoonish illustrations of animals and nature habitats are amusing and clarify the text, indicating, for instance, when characters are reading Professor Batfish’s words off of a tablet.
An interactive and educational story.Pub Date: June 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-73232-300-1
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Wayout Kids Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift.
A paean to teachers and their surrogates everywhere.
This gentle ode to a teacher’s skill at inspiring, encouraging, and being a role model is spoken, presumably, from a child’s viewpoint. However, the voice could equally be that of an adult, because who can’t look back upon teachers or other early mentors who gave of themselves and offered their pupils so much? Indeed, some of the self-aware, self-assured expressions herein seem perhaps more realistic as uttered from one who’s already grown. Alternatively, readers won’t fail to note that this small book, illustrated with gentle soy-ink drawings and featuring an adult-child bear duo engaged in various sedentary and lively pursuits, could just as easily be about human parent- (or grandparent-) child pairs: some of the softly colored illustrations depict scenarios that are more likely to occur within a home and/or other family-oriented setting. Makes sense: aren’t parents and other close family members children’s first teachers? This duality suggests that the book might be best shared one-on-one between a nostalgic adult and a child who’s developed some self-confidence, having learned a thing or two from a parent, grandparent, older relative, or classroom instructor.
A sweet, soft conversation starter and a charming gift. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943200-08-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Compendium
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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