A beautifully illustrated, informative, and warmhearted book about animals from a creationist perspective.
This illustrated children’s book explains why God gave animals their individual characteristics.
Why do frogs have eyes on top of their heads? Why do beavers have such long teeth? Why do turtles have thick shells? Debut author Wilde answers these and similar questions. The opening line is “God made everything for a purpose,” and the book takes a creationist rather than an evolutionary stance. To children, the idea that God created animals to fit their environments may not seem very different from animals adapting to their environments through the processes of evolution, but parents will be aware. For some, this may not be the book they want setting the stage for later understanding. But these are not Just-So stories; Wilde provides good explanations of how an animal’s body especially suits it to find food and shelter in varied environments. For example, frogs’ eyes are on top of their heads “so they can hide underwater and still see out!”; God gave turtles thick shells “so they can hide when they get startled!” The tone is warm and humorous, as when the turtle isn’t startled by a predator but by a curious baby turtle. The animals are friendly looking and sometimes quite beautiful, like the luscious rainbow trout; others are adorable, like fat-cheeked chipmunks. Some happy children illustrated in the last few pages appear multiracial. Wilde also provides nice touches when she plays with words and images. For example, the “w” in a duck’s “webbed feet” is made with tiny duck feet, perfectly illustrating the concept. Wilde’s beautiful, full-color, soft-edged pictures are very appealing while also providing accurate details about animals and their particular environments, including, for example, cutaway views of a beaver’s den or chipmunk’s lair. The final message to children is that God created them for a purpose, too: “so you can know Him and enjoy His creation!” Wilde succeeds in making all the varieties of creation enjoyable.
A beautifully illustrated, informative, and warmhearted book about animals from a creationist perspective.Pub Date: July 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9974828-0-5
Page Count: -
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.
In Florence’s middle-grade fantasy novel, a young girl’s heart is tested in the face of an evil, spreading Darkness.
Eleven-year-old Lydia, “freckle-cheeked and round-eyed, with hair the color of pine bark and fair skin,” is struggling with the knowledge that she has reached the age to apprentice as an herbalist. Lydia is reluctant to leave her beloved, magical Mulberry Glen and her cozy Housetree in the woods—she’ll miss Garder, the Glen’s respected philosopher; her fairy guardian Pit; her human friend Livy; and even the mischievous part-elf, part-imp, part-human twins Zale and Zamilla. But the twins go missing after hearing of a soul-sapping Darkness that has swallowed a forest and is creeping into minds and engulfing entire towns. They have secretly left to find a rare fruit that, it is said, will stop the Darkness if thrown into the heart of the mountain that rises out of the lethal forest. Lydia follows, determined to find the twins before they, too, fall victim to the Darkness. During her journey, accompanied by new friends, she gradually realizes that she herself has a dangerous role to play in the quest to stop the Darkness. In this well-crafted fantasy, Florence skillfully equates the physical manifestation of Darkness with the feelings of insecurity and powerlessness that Lydia first struggles with when thinking of leaving the Glen. Such negative thoughts grow more intrusive the closer she and her friends come to the Darkness—and to Lydia’s ultimate, powerfully rendered test of character, which leads to a satisfyingly realistic, not quite happily-ever-after ending. Highlights include a delightfully haunting, reality-shifting library and a deft sprinkling of Latin throughout the text; Pit’s pet name for Lydia is mea flosculus (“my little flower”). Fine-lined ink drawings introducing each chapter add a pleasing visual element to this well-grounded fairy tale.
An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781956393095
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Waxwing Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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