A charmingly illustrated, fact-filled journey that teaches children the power of perseverance.
Howeth’s picture book follows the parallel lives of the real-life Molly Brown and Molly Bovine.
The author sketches the remarkable lives of two very different Mollys: Molly Brown, whose story begins in 1912 when she boards the Titanic, and Molly Bovine (aka Number 469), a cow living on a Montana ranch in 2006. Brown escapes the sinking Titanic; Bovine is shipped to a meat-packing facility. Connections are made between events when Brown escapes on a lifeboat while Bovine escapes by jumping a fence; Brown becomes exhausted from rowing and Bovine tires while swimming the Missouri River. Eventually, both Mollys find rescue and fame: Brown when her lifeboat is found and Bovine when her handlers decide she has earned a place at an animal sanctuary. Van Wyk’s illustrations consist of loose lines, bold watercolors, and whimsical character designs reminiscent of Quentin Blake’s famous drawings for Roald Dahl. Howeth’s prose is both informational and rhythmic as she frequently uses mirroring language to connect the characters. For example: “Here Margaret waited / with her stunned and fretful companions, / weeping, / praying, / shivering” is correlated with, “Here Number 469 waited / with her stunned and fretful companions, / jostling, / circling, / stamping.” Bovine getting shot with multiple tranquilizer darts may upset younger children, but both characters get happy endings. Howeth delivers an informative and adventurous tale filled with strong females (of varying species).
A charmingly illustrated, fact-filled journey that teaches children the power of perseverance.Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9781964934303
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Blue Balloon Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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