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HIPPOS CAN'T SWIM

Name: HIPPOS CAN'T SWIM
Author: Laura Lyn DiSiena
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9352-0

AND OTHER FUN FACTS

From the Did You Know? series

by Laura Lyn DiSiena ; Hannah Eliot ; illustrated by Pete Oswald ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4, 2014

The pictures are a weak link, but younger readers and listeners will happily take this quick dive into the sea of random...

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Smooth segues provide the cement for this high-wattage, if less-than-carefully illustrated, set of animal facts.

Oswald’s cartoon images of popeyed, well-caffeinated creatures crank up the visual energy to frantic levels. Unfortunately, at the outset, they contradict the author’s correct observation that hippos’ noses are placed on the tops of their heads. In another misstep, both illustration and a thought balloon misleadingly suggest that bats can recognize a passing 747 with echolocation (their range is much, much smaller). For the most part, though, DiSiena and Eliot’s revelations are both accurate and just as detailed as they need to be to keep and hold attention. They glide from the hippo’s titular lack of buoyancy (they walk along river bottoms) to the surprising fleetness of sea turtles. From there, it’s on to jellyfish, which don’t actively swim but do flash with bioluminescence—just like fireflies. So it goes, until the parade of facts circles neatly back around to blue whales (“actually the largest animals that have ever lived”) and a closing assurance that “unlike hippos…blue whales sure can SWIM!” Though the authors supply no supportive references or leads to further information, they do tuck in an additional “Fun Fact” about each of the 14 animals at the end. A companion, Chickens Don’t Fly and Other Fun Facts, publishes simultaneously.

The pictures are a weak link, but younger readers and listeners will happily take this quick dive into the sea of random knowledge. (Informational picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-4424-9352-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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THE SCARECROW’S HAT

by Ken Brown & illustrated by Ken Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

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A brilliant watercolorist, Brown sets this familiarly patterned tale in sunny, poppy-strewn rural locales, and populates it with animals that are at once wonderfully lifelike and comically expressive. Chicken has her eye on Scarecrow's straw hat, which Scarecrow is willing to trade for a walking stick. Badger has a stick, and is willing to trade that for a ribbon. Crow has a ribbon . . . and so on, until Chicken reaches Donkey, whose yen for a feather flyswatter finally triggers the string of trades. Chicken ends up with the hat—perfect, as it turns out, for a cozy nest—“ 'And I wouldn't swap it for anything!' ” Full-bleed, double-paged spreads tell most of the story, with a set of vignettes in the middle to move the action back along the track. Fans of Brown's hysterical The Wolf Is Coming! (1998), written by Elizabeth MacDonald, will find this a bit more restrained, but with a similarly broad streak of silliness. Great for storytelling, with big beautiful pictures for a topper. (Picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 1-56145-240-8

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Peachtree

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2001

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT’S THE TIME, GRANDMA WOLF?
by Ken Brown & illustrated by Ken Brown

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOLF IS COMING!
by Elizabeth MacDonald & illustrated by Ken Brown

- BOOK REVIEW
NELLIE'S KNOT
by Ken Brown & illustrated by Ken Brown

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THE STORY OF THINGS

by Neal Layton & illustrated by Neal Layton adapted by Corina Fletcher ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2012

Curiously uninvolving, but it may get children to thinking about stuff and maybe inventing some gizmos of their own.

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Early humans about 3 million years ago had “no things,” and Layton wants to show us how they—we—got them.

The artistic style is squiggly and agitated, with occasional collage photos and other overlays. Pictures run in double-page spreads punctuated by tiny identifiers (“No Plates to eat off”), foldouts and larger pop-ups. The left-hand, lower corner of each spread gives a time frame (“12,000-4,000 YEARS AGO”) as readers and humanity move from pointy stones as tools to fire to civilizations, freely dispensing gags along the way. Did the ancient Greeks really invent the hula hoop? “Wheels are wheely useful!” Noting the invention of champagne by Dom Perignon is a nice touch for adult readers. “Ye Book of ye Middle Ages” centers on Europe of course, with a nod toward China for the invention of gunpowder. Perhaps the most amusing paper-engineering effect is the steam engine, which makes a chugga-chugga sound while smoke billows and three bearded guys bounce around behind. At the end, bigger and faster engines give way to smaller and faster microchips. There are several images of this title in various places within the text—very meta indeed—but no references and a lot of generalities. One might say that there is little gender or ethnic mix, but the figures are so abstract or cartoony that it may not matter. There isn’t a lot of matter here, period.

Curiously uninvolving, but it may get children to thinking about stuff and maybe inventing some gizmos of their own. (Pop-up/nonfiction. 5-7)