An eye-pleasing seek-and-find tale sure to entertain budding environmentalists.
A debut picture book focuses on science facts and ocean preservation.
Humans and sea creatures of all types fill these densely illustrated pages, introduced through Fulkerson’s rhythmic, rhyming text. The intent of this educational seek-and-find series opener is clear from the first two-page spread. When it comes to oceans, “there isn’t a way for us to measure their beauty and their worth.” The author makes use of ocean vocabulary (“krill,” “mollusks,” “grouper,” “anemones”) throughout, seeding the more difficult words within the context of familiar ones. The text and the activities at the end, including complex writing exercises and a bonus literary seek-and-find, seem geared toward independent readers, who may pick up some new non-ocean vocabulary words as well (“churn,” “unjust”). Debut illustrator Morais works many visual jokes into the playful images of sea creatures and diverse humans featured here. Some of the pictures tie in less closely to the text than others—rhymes on the types of animals found in the ocean are accompanied by a pirate shipwreck. But all are peppered with so many things to discover, children won’t mind. Hidden words on each page form an environmental message for readers to unscramble, and a helpful list of concealed creatures identifies many species depicted in the illustrations.
An eye-pleasing seek-and-find tale sure to entertain budding environmentalists. (quiz, facts, activities)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-947486-12-6
Page Count: 37
Publisher: Eaton Press
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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