Bishop’s spectacular photographs of the tiny red-eyed tree frog defeat an incidental text from Cowley (Singing Down the Rain, 1997, etc.). The frog, only two inches long, is enormous in this title; it appears along with other nocturnal residents of the rain forests of Central America, including the iguana, ant, katydid, caterpillar, and moth. In a final section, Cowley explains how small the frog is and aspects of its life cycle. The main text, however, is an afterthought to dramatic events in the photos, e.g., “But the red-eyed tree frog has been asleep all day. It wakes up hungry. What will it eat? Here is an iguana. Frogs do not eat iguanas.” Accompanying an astonishing photograph of the tree frog leaping away from a boa snake are three lines (“The snake flicks its tongue. It tastes frog in the air. Look out, frog!”) that neither advance nor complement the action. The layout employs pale and deep green pages and typeface, and large jewel-like photographs in which green and red dominate. The combination of such visually sophisticated pages and simplistic captions make this a top-heavy, unsatisfying title. (Picture book. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-590-87175-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
Gibbons’s 100th book is devoted to presenting swine in a positive light; she quickly demystifies the stereotypes that cast pigs as smelly, dirty, greedy, and dull. Descended and domesticated from the wild boar, pigs come in hundreds of varieties, colors, shapes, and sizes; in simple language, the book outlines their characteristics, breeds, intelligence, communication, habits, and uses. The author distinguishes the various terms—hog, swine, gilt, sow, boar—while also explaining the act of wallowing in mud. The bulk of the text is characteristically factual, but Gibbons allows herself an opinion or two: “They are cute and lovable with their curly tails, their flat pink snouts and their noisy squeals and grunts.” Pen-and-watercolor drawings show sprightly pigs and a plethora of pink-cheeked children in tranquil farm scenes. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-8234-1441-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
An uproarious tangled tale from Han (The Rabbit’s Judgment, 1994, etc.) that works, because it retains the natural and spontaneous inventiveness of its folk origins. Long ago when “tigers smoked pipes and rabbits had long tails” a tiger wanders into a farmer’s barnyard to nab some dinner. Inside, the tiger overhears a mother trying to quiet her wailing baby: first she threatens that a fierce tiger might overhear the noisy child, and then she offers it a bit of dried persimmon to suck on. That quiets the baby, but the eavesdropping tiger comes away with the information that the dried persimmon must be fiercer, scarier, and stronger than he is. Later, a thief who’s also casing the barnyard lands on the tiger’s back; the tiger is frantic, believing that a dreadful dried persimmon is clinging to his fur. When a skeptical rabbit who hears the tiger’s story goes to investigate the monstrous dried persimmon, he also gets a scare and loses his tail. The twists and turns of the plot are conveyed with energy, while Wehrman’s conjuring of the persimmon into an all-powerful entity helps readers sympathize with the tiger’s fears. A story-hour gem. (Picture book/folklore. 5-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8050-4580-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1999
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