A pleasingly solid retelling.
Souhami gives “The Fisherman and His Wife” a hopeful twist.
Souhami’s backmatter author’s note explains that she wanted to retell this old tale with sympathy for the characters, whom she resists depicting as they appear in other versions: “a horrible, greedy and nagging old woman” and “a weak, hen-pecked milksop.” Instead, she presents a couple worn down by poverty who are grateful when the magic fish grants their wish for “a small dry cottage…a blue teapot…[a]nd some bread and cheese in the larder.” They’re satisfied for a month before greed brings them back to the sea with grander wishes for status and material wealth. The duration of the couple’s contentment diminishes with every new wish granted, until the fish finally returns them to their initial state of poverty. But Souhami doesn’t leave them in dire straits. Instead, a closing picture shows them happily trying to net fish above text that reads, “But I hope that they caught lots of ordinary fish to sell at the market. And that they gradually became happy. What do you think?” Along with this use of direct address, expressive collage art that evokes something of Margot Zemach’s style will engage readers with depictions of the increasingly exasperated magic fish and how the couple and their home are transformed from scene to scene with their increasing wealth.
A pleasingly solid retelling. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-91095-918-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Otter-Barry
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
Budding zoologists take note.
Animals shout out their habitat names, sometimes finding striking similarities.
In a bouncy follow-up to I Was Born a Baby (2022), Fleming and Scott employ the same format, this time exploring animal homes. Wide-eyed, curious creatures peer out from their dwellings, each announcing where they live. Whenever there is a name that some share (such as nest), one of the animals interrupts to express shock: “Are you for SURE? I had NO clue!” Others (like an owl, a seal, and a gorilla) chime in: “Mine’s a nest!” “Mine’s a nest!” “Mine’s a nest, too!” A salamander pipes up: “I live in a bog.” Then a gopher pokes out from the soil, exclaiming, “I live in a mound.” A sleepy groundhog drawls from below, “My place is a burrow hidden in the ground.” The repeated (and dramatically incredulous) refrain helps anchor the story and highlights similarities. There are a variety of animals, in a variety of settings, each with its own vocabulary opportunity. Alas, the animals are not labeled on the pages, but the endpapers provide names, arranged by environments. Ultimately, a diverse set of tots (and their canine and feline friends) showcase the best home of all—a cozy bed, indoors. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Budding zoologists take note. (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 18, 2023
ISBN: 9780063205215
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2023
A simple but effective look at a keystone species.
Sea otters are the key to healthy kelp forests on the Pacific coast of North America.
There have been several recent titles for older readers about the critical role sea otters play in the coastal Pacific ecosystem. This grand, green version presents it to even younger readers and listeners, using a two-level text and vivid illustrations. Biologist Buhrman-Deever opens as if she were telling a fairy tale: “On the Pacific coast of North America, where the ocean meets the shore, there are forests that have no trees.” The treelike forms are kelp, home to numerous creatures. Two spreads show this lush underwater jungle before its king, the sea otter, is introduced. A delicate balance allows this system to flourish, but there was a time that hunting upset this balance. The writer is careful to blame not the Indigenous peoples who had always hunted the area, but “new people.” In smaller print she explains that Russian explorations spurred the development of an international fur trade. Trueman paints the scene, concentrating on an otter family threatened by formidable harpoons from an abstractly rendered person in a small boat, with a sailing ship in the distance. “People do not always understand at first the changes they cause when they take too much.” Sea urchins take over; a page turn reveals a barren landscape. Happily, the story ends well when hunting stops and the otters return…and with them, the kelp forests.
A simple but effective look at a keystone species. (further information, select bibliography, additional resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8934-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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