Excellent first introductions to some of our planet’s most common fellow residents.
An invitation to zoological investigations around the house and yard, with a gratifyingly large, detachable, pop-up spider as a special treat.
Dubbing her arthropod subjects “minibeasts” (“creepy crawlies” is so judgmental), French first suggests checking a few rooms for spiders, then venturing outdoors for further likely-to-be-successful searches for daddy longlegs, woodlice, centipedes, and millipedes. She describes each creature’s salient physical characteristics in simple but precise language, along the way tucking in both thoughtful side notes (drape a towel over a sink’s edge to allow a trapped minibeast to escape, for example) and a couple of very elementary crafts. Woodward’s realistically done paper-collage portraits give way to photos in a closing gallery of (mostly big) spiders and related wildlife…which may help prepare more-squeamish readers for the hand-sized 3-D orb weaver that can be plucked from the rear cover and opened out. Publishing simultaneously, Fluttering Minibeast Adventures takes investigators out to a pond with an insect net and a few other props to examine moths, butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies—both in adult and earlier stages of their life cycles. The featured pop-up is a stylized painted lady. In both outings the author artfully demonstrates ways of studying these animals without touching them while communicating an unforced enthusiasm for getting as close as need be to watch them in action.
Excellent first introductions to some of our planet’s most common fellow residents. (index) (Informational pop-up picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4052-7756-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Red Shed
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
An effective early chapter book conveyed in a slightly overdone gag.
Epistolary dispatches from the eternal canine/feline feud.
Simon the cat is angry. He had done a good job taking care of his boy, Andy, but now that Andy’s parents are divorced, a dog named Baxter has moved into Andy’s dad’s house. Simon believes that there isn’t enough room in Andy’s life for two furry friends, so he uses the power of the pen to get Baxter to move out. Inventively for the early-chapter-book format, the story is told in letters written back and forth; Simon’s are impeccably spelled on personalized stationery while Baxter’s spelling slowly improves through the letters he scrawls on scraps of paper. A few other animals make appearances—a puffy-lipped goldfish who for some reason punctuates her letter with “Blub…blub…” seems to be the only female character (cued through stereotypical use of eyelashes and red lipstick), and a mustachioed snail ferries the mail to and fro. White-appearing Andy is seen playing with both animals as a visual background to the text, as is his friend Noah (a dark-skinned child who perhaps should not be nicknamed “N Man”). Cat lovers will appreciate Simon’s prickliness while dog aficionados will likely enjoy Baxter’s obtuse enthusiasm, and all readers will learn about the time and patience it takes to overcome conflict and jealousy with someone you dislike.
An effective early chapter book conveyed in a slightly overdone gag. (Fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4492-2
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Silly reads for new readers to dig into.
A turnip-loving duck and its friends defend their garden.
Alas, the duck, sheep, dog, and donkey immediately discover the eponymous pest in the garden when it (a groundhog?) eats a row of beans. The duck is frantic that turnips are next, but instead the pest eats the sheep’s favorite crop: corn. Peas occupy the next row, and the pest gobbles them up, too. Instead of despairing, however, the donkey cries, “Yippee! He ate ALL THE PEAS!” and catching the others’ puzzled looks, continues, “I don’t like peas.” After this humorous twist, the only uneaten row is sown with turnips, and the duck leaps to devour them before the pest can do so. In a satisfying, funny conclusion, the duck beams when the dog, sheep, and donkey resolve to plant a new garden and protect it with a fence, only to find out that it will exclude not just the groundhog, but the duck, too. A companion release, What Is Chasing Duck?, has the same brand of humor and boldly outlined figures rendered in a bright palette, but its storyline doesn’t come together as well since it’s unclear why the duck is scared and why the squirrel that was chasing it doesn’t recognize the others when they turn and chase him at book’s end.
Silly reads for new readers to dig into. (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-544-94165-6
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
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