A congenial approach to encouraging awareness of and methods for protecting night skies.
In this illustrated children’s book, a puppy learns how to safeguard the night skies from light pollution.
Sagebrush, a tailless corgi puppy, lives in the Rocky Mountains with her dog parents, Maverick and Ginger, and Young Miss (her human owner) on a beautiful ranch. One night, Sagebrush wakes up suddenly and realizes it’s much darker outside than usual. She discovers that the ranch’s security light has burned out, and now the corgi can see “millions of stars brilliantly twinkling against the black velvet of the night sky.” She learns that such sights are rare now because of light pollution, and not just in cities. The ranch’s bright security light had obscured the stars, only visible now because the bulb burned out. Light pollution is bad for plants and animals because it upsets their natural day/night rhythms and ability to use celestial navigation. People, too, miss out; they can no longer study the constellations just by looking up at the night sky. When Mr. Electric Man arrives to replace the bulb, Sagebrush begs him not to. Luckily, he has a dark-sky shade he can install that reduces upward glare. Everyone on the ranch, especially Sagebrush, is delighted with the new shade. In this sixth installment of her series, Franks continues to address environmental issues mixed with fantasy elements—such as the Shuns, wise, gnomelike creatures rescued from habitat loss—making the message less preachy. The writing nicely captures Sagebrush’s sense of wonder at the newly dark sky: “For a few mysterious moments, time seemed to stand perfectly still as a thin cloud seemed to cloak itself around the moon.” Illustrator Visitacion contributes undistinguished, cartoonlike digital pictures that don’t reflect the setting’s lushness, though the dogs are cute.
A congenial approach to encouraging awareness of and methods for protecting night skies.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-66413-455-3
Page Count: 42
Publisher: Xlibris Corp
Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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