A solid look at animals in the winter and the ways they weather the weather.
People take vacations to warmer climes, put on heavier clothing, and hunker down in warm buildings in the winter. How do animals survive the season?
In a play on the traditional childhood chant, “finders, keepers, losers, weepers,” Kulekjian divides animals into several groups according to how they tackle wintry weather. Hiders find places to hole up while it’s cold; hibernation, brumation, diapause, and torpor are all introduced. Seekers look for places that are better suited to them (migration): places where food is easier to find or where the weather is warmer. And the finders keep…warm with heavier coats, full with stashes of food, and close in order to stay warm together. Many animals in this last group have adaptations that help them survive winter conditions. The main text is printed right on the full-bleed spreads. Further information about the science or the species on the page is provided in round text bubbles; for example, bee colonies die out each autumn, the queen going into diapause, then laying eggs and starting new colonies each spring. Perera’s digital illustrations reflect the palettes of fall and winter, the realistic-looking scenes featuring many opportunities to spy animals in their natural habitats. A brown-skinned parent and child are seen periodically, their bond and their love of the outdoors both clear. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A solid look at animals in the winter and the ways they weather the weather. (track guide, author’s note, resources) (Informational picture book. 3-8)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0485-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
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
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on.
Sharpson offers so-fish-ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas.
The title says it all. Our unseen narrator is just fine with other animals: mammals. Reptiles. Even birds. But fish? Don’t trust them! First off, the rules always seem to change with fish. Some live in fresh water; some reside in salt water. Some have gills, while others have lungs. You can never see what they’re up to, since they hang out underwater, and they’re always eating those poor, innocent crabs. Soon, the narrator introduces readers to Jeff, a vacant-eyed yellow fish—but don’t be fooled! Jeff’s “the craftiest fish of all.” All fish are, apparently, hellbent on world domination, the narrator warns. “DON’T TRUST FISH!” Finally, at the tail end, we get a sly glimpse of our unreliable narrator. Readers needn’t be ichthyologists to appreciate Sharpson’s meticulous comic timing. (“Ships always sink at sea. They never sink on land. Isn’t that strange?”) His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between extreme realism and goofy hilarity. He also fills the book with his own clever gags (such as an image of Gilligan’s Island’s S.S. Minnow going down and a bottle of sauce labeled “Surly Chik’n Srir’racha’r”).
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593616673
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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