A winning choice for just about anywhere that’s on a map.
This nighttime adventure teaches children about different types of maps.
In the days of GPS software and smartphones that tell us where to go, essential learned skills such as reading maps may not be passed along to younger children. Hesselberth takes on this challenge of instruction through the story of Sam, an orange cat who exudes attitude. Each night after her human companions are safely in bed, Sam slips out of their house and begins an adventurous stroll around her community. Every few pages, Sam’s journey is explained using a map and map-based terminology. Important terms, such as “compass rose” and “blueprints,” are explained in pop-up boxes that accompany Sam’s story, but the focus broadens beyond simple geographical maps. As Sam explores, other types of pictorial guides are also explained. Anatomical maps, cross-section diagrams, constellation charts, and many others are described and pictured. The flow of the story is smooth, and the introduction of each new piece of cartography feels organic. Hesselberth’s artwork, a combination of acrylic, gouache, and digital manipulation, is clear and will show well in large groups. The added backmatter further defines the cartographic styles used throughout the story. Educators will find this a useful tool for introducing new concepts of space and location.
A winning choice for just about anywhere that’s on a map. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-274122-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
An effective early chapter book conveyed in a slightly overdone gag.
Epistolary dispatches from the eternal canine/feline feud.
Simon the cat is angry. He had done a good job taking care of his boy, Andy, but now that Andy’s parents are divorced, a dog named Baxter has moved into Andy’s dad’s house. Simon believes that there isn’t enough room in Andy’s life for two furry friends, so he uses the power of the pen to get Baxter to move out. Inventively for the early-chapter-book format, the story is told in letters written back and forth; Simon’s are impeccably spelled on personalized stationery while Baxter’s spelling slowly improves through the letters he scrawls on scraps of paper. A few other animals make appearances—a puffy-lipped goldfish who for some reason punctuates her letter with “Blub…blub…” seems to be the only female character (cued through stereotypical use of eyelashes and red lipstick), and a mustachioed snail ferries the mail to and fro. White-appearing Andy is seen playing with both animals as a visual background to the text, as is his friend Noah (a dark-skinned child who perhaps should not be nicknamed “N Man”). Cat lovers will appreciate Simon’s prickliness while dog aficionados will likely enjoy Baxter’s obtuse enthusiasm, and all readers will learn about the time and patience it takes to overcome conflict and jealousy with someone you dislike.
An effective early chapter book conveyed in a slightly overdone gag. (Fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4492-2
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so...
A pro bono Twinkie of a book invites readers to fly off in a magic plane to bring clean water to our planet’s oceans, deserts, and brown children.
Following a confusingly phrased suggestion beneath a soft-focus world map to “touch the Earth. Now touch where you live,” a shake of the volume transforms it into a plane with eyes and feathered wings that flies with the press of a flat, gray “button” painted onto the page. Pressing like buttons along the journey releases a gush of fresh water from the ground—and later, illogically, provides a filtration device that changes water “from yucky to clean”—for thirsty groups of smiling, brown-skinned people. At other stops, a tap on the button will “help irrigate the desert,” and touching floating bottles and other debris in the ocean supposedly makes it all disappear so the fish can return. The 20 children Coh places on a globe toward the end are varied of skin tone, but three of the four young saviors she plants in the flier’s cockpit as audience stand-ins are white. The closing poem isn’t so openly parochial, though it seldom rises above vague feel-good sentiments: “Love the Earth, the moon and sun. / All the children can be one.”
“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so easy to clean the place up and give everyone a drink? (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5107-2083-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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