A fascinating story.
An educated horse tells his own story.
Jim was meant to be a racehorse, but he is born awkward. Jim’s “human,” William “Doc” Key, is a Black man who was born into slavery and educated alongside the White children on the plantation. Jim relates how Doc loved to read about animal medicine and became so skilled at it that he was often called upon to treat animals on farms and even humans. When slavery ended, Doc prospered as a veterinarian. After Jim’s birth in 1889, Doc and his wife notice Jim’s remarkable intelligence, and Doc spends time teaching Jim the alphabet and numbers. Jim learns so many impressive skills that he and Doc take their show on the road and astonish audiences, including presidents and visitors to the 1904 world’s fair. Jim can spell, sort mail, use a telephone, and solve arithmetic problems. But the presentation is not just for show. Doc believes that the only skills needed to train animals are patience and kindness, and he hopes that seeing Jim’s intelligence will influence people to treat animals kindly. The text is written as a first-person narrative from the horse’s point of view, with occasional “diary” entries from particular locations and years. This style works well to draw readers into the story and to reinforce the idea that animals have feelings. The grainy, speckled texture of the illustrations gives them a slightly unfinished appearance, but the settings and characters are endearing and engaging.
A fascinating story. (notes) (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8075-0611-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
Filled with questions any child might ask, replete with a sense of warmth and good cheer and packing enough offbeat facts to...
Everything you wondered about dogs but were afraid to ask is answered in this slim, friendly volume of canine Q&A.
Questions range from why dogs bark and wag their tails to why there are so many breeds to that perennial question of why they sniff each other’s bottoms. Each spread features a question on canine behavior or attributes, which is followed by whimsical and arch offerings from a chorus of cats (“Why do dogs do what we tell them? Because they don’t know how to use their own heads. Because they can’t open a can of dog food on their own. Because they want people to like them more than people like cats”). Factual, accessible text then provides straightforward answers and a focus on a breed that personifies said characteristic, complete with a textured illustration in rich earthy tones and a description of the breed and its assets as a pet. Endpapers show different breeds as well as imaginary mixed breeds to identify (answers are at the back of the book).
Filled with questions any child might ask, replete with a sense of warmth and good cheer and packing enough offbeat facts to entice even the most reluctant reader, this is bound to be a classroom favorite as well as a great choice for any dog lover. Can a selection on cats be far behind? (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 11, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4014-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
In this outsized companion to the equally imposing Life-Size Zoo (2009) and More Life-Size Zoo (2010), 35 marine creatures from a killer whale to a handful of three-quarter–inch cliones (a type of conch) pose against white backgrounds for sharp full- or partial-body portraits. An engaging graphic table of contents imagines a giant, cross-sectioned aquarium with each animal pictured occupying a separate chamber or tank and tiny stick figures making their way from exhibit to exhibit. Though double gatefolds allow viewers to get closer than many would wish to an orca’s teeth or a walrus’s tusks and tongue, the photos make wonderful eye candy—all saturated colors and well-lit, sharply reproduced fine detail. Each spread features a side-strip of simple cartoon drawings with accompanying basic facts and questions designed not so much to inform—readers will find out the specimens’ scientific names, but their listed homes are all Japanese zoos or aquariums and their sexes and ages are often “unknown”—as to prompt closer looks at the animals on display. Still, fine fare for browsers and budding naturalists. (Nonfiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-934734-59-9
Page Count: 49
Publisher: Seven Footer Press
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2010
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