An errant ladybug once again wanders off to lead animal detectives Daisy (a pink-and-brown–striped rabbit) and Basil (a blue lizard with red baseball cap worn backward) on a merry chase.
It was tough enough to Look for Ladybug in Plant City (2017)—here, the undersea realm offers 10 more big, populous, and bewilderingly busy sites artfully designed to conceal the mischievous mite from searching eyes. As if the challenge of picking Ladybug out from the swirling plethora of small, red, spotted sea creatures in each scene weren’t enough, Manolessou tucks in dozens of additional figures to winkle out. Readers are prompted to find (among others): one crab on a swing in Octopus Gardens and another wearing eight hard hats at a building site; an octopus holding four brushes near the thermal vent spa (featuring signs for various attractions as “Salt Scrubs” and “Mud Jacuzzis” as well as slogans urging visitors to “Go With the Flow” and “Let Your Hair Down”); a Portrait of a Fish With a Pearl Earring at the Ocean City Museum; and five sea snakes in every picture. Happily, the perky pet rejoins the exhausted detectives at the end (briefly, anyway)…and equally happily, the author provides a visual key to stave off incipient eyestrain in young viewers.
A bright and bubbly outing for confident seek-and-find fans. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-78603-776-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
Did you like this book?
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A photo album of young wolves running, playing, and growing through their first year.
Light on factual details, the uncredited text largely runs to vague observations along the lines of the fact that “young wolves need to rest every now and then” or that packs “differ in size. Some are large and have many wolves, while others are small with only a few.” The chief draws here are the big, color, stock photos, which show pups of diverse ages and species, singly or in groups—running, posing alertly with parents or other adult wolves, eating (regurgitated food only, and that not visible), howling, patrolling, and snoozing as a seasonal round turns green meadows to snowy landscapes. In a notably perfunctory insertion squeezed onto the final spread, a wildlife biologist from the American Museum of Natural History introduces himself and describes his research work—all with animals other than wolves. Budding naturalists should have no trouble running down more nourishing fare, from Seymour Simon’s Wolves (1993) to Jonathan London’s Seasons of Little Wolf (illustrated by Jon Van Zyle, 2014) and on. Baby Dolphin’s First Swim follows the same formula even down to profiling exactly the same wildlife biologist.
A bland also-ran trailing a large litter of like-themed pups. (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2237-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
Did you like this book?
Kitten care presented early-reader style.
“Something soft and furry / Is coming home with me. // It is my new kitten. / She is as sweet as can be!” First-person, easy-reading text describes meeting the kitten, feeding the kitten, playing with the kitten, then taking it to the vet and keeping it safe. The first half of this volume is presented in rhyme with Wachter's photos of real children of various races and their kittens (always the same kitten-and-child pairings) imposed on simple cartoon backgrounds. On other pages, photos of kittens (all cute as the dickens) leaping, scratching, running, and sleeping appear against similar backgrounds. The second half reiterates the same information but in more detail. It passes on instructions in simple language for tasks like introducing a kitten to its litter box and interpreting the sounds and body language of your new furry friend. Jumping the species barrier, Biscuit creator Capucilli does a fine job of instructing young, new pet owners in the care of their wee feline friends in this companion to My First Puppy (2019). This helpful guidebook ends with a message encouraging aspiring young pet friends to adopt from shelters. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-12-inch double-page spreads viewed at 85.7% of actual size.)
Good advice and good reading practice rolled into one. (Early reader. 5-7)Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-7754-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon Spotlight
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
Did you like this book?
© Copyright 2021 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
