A good choice for a late fall storytime.
Animal behaviors change as they prepare to face the winter.
Migrate, hibernate, or tolerate. With smooth rhymes and jaunty illustrations, Salas and Gévry introduce three strategies animals use for coping with winter cold. The author’s long experience in imparting information to young readers is evident in her selection of familiar animals and in her presentation. Spread by spread she introduces her examples, preparing in fall and surviving in winter. She describes two types of migration: Hummingbirds and monarchs fly, and blue whales travel to the warmth of the south; earthworms burrow deeper into the earth. Without using technical words, she introduces four forms of hibernation—chipmunks nap and snack; bears mainly sleep; Northern wood frogs become an “icy pop,” frozen until spring; and normally solitary garter snakes snuggle together in huge masses. Those who can tolerate the winter still change behavior. Mice store food and travel in tunnels under the snow; moose grow a warmer kind of fur; the red fox dives into the snow to catch small mammals (like those mice); and humans put on warm clothes and play. The animals in the soft pastel illustrations are recognizable, more cuddly than realistic, and quite appealing; their habitats are stylized. The humans represent varied ethnicities. Each page includes two levels of text, and there’s further information in the extensive backmatter. Pair with Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen’s Winter Bees (2014).
A good choice for a late fall storytime. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5415-2900-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
A good accompaniment to the duo’s Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns, which featured a Western Muslim family (2012), in a...
A beautiful picture book simultaneously explores shapes, Islam, and the cultures of the Muslim people.
Ranging from simple (circle, rectangle, triangle, oval, diamond) to more advanced (cone, cube, hexagon, octagon, arch, crescent), various shapes introduce an object, architectural form, or concept related to Islamic faith or cultural practices. “Cube is the Ka’aba, / a most sacred site, / where Muslims worship / each day and night.” The daff (a type of drum) is a circle; the minaret is a cone; an ayah, defined as “a verse of the holy Quran” in the glossary, is printed on a hexagonal tile, and diamonds adorn a new kaftan for Eid, “an Islamic holiday.” Illustrations are elaborately adorned and ornamented, a characteristic of Islamic art, and depict Muslims of many races and ethnicities. However, Muslims dressed in noncultural clothes are largely (though not entirely) missing from illustrations, potentially reinforcing a stereotypical image for non-Muslims. This is partially remedied by the author’s note that each spread represents a different country, but without a key or labels, it is difficult to discern which ones these are. The book successfully covers a wide array of concepts, cultures, and shapes, but Islam’s vastness, rightly celebrated here, means that some choices in spelling (“mimbar” vs. “minbar”; “Ka’aba” vs. “Ka’ba” or “Ka’bah”), definition (“iftar” is not necessarily a “light” meal), and illustrative detail (the kaftan is not belted) may throw readers accustomed to other practices.
A good accompaniment to the duo’s Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns, which featured a Western Muslim family (2012), in a collection of children’s books with an Islamic theme. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5541-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
A pleasant introduction to ocean inhabitants that will show well at storytime.
A bottlenose dolphin calf and her pod lead a lost baby whale from the shallow waters of the Great Barrier Reef to his mother in the deep open ocean.
From dawn through dusk and night to morning, Bailey follows a young dolphin on an improbable adventure. As in previous titles about the savanna, the Antarctic, and the rainforest in this appealing series, the author/illustrator portrays the waters around Australia as full of wildlife. The front endpapers identify 41 different “animals of the ocean shallows,” while the rear ones show 28 “animals of the ocean deep.” Many are also pictured in the engaging illustrations within. This is good, as child readers are likely to be more caught up in identifying the creatures than gripped by the slim story. These crisp, simple images successfully show the difference between the colorful, sunlit reef environment and the darker ocean, but they don’t quite convey the striking difference in population density. Furthermore, the blacktip reef shark and the giant moray eel, which in real life prefer the shallower waters around the reef, are pictured as deep-ocean inhabitants. Some useful facts about the dolphins are sprinkled into the narrative: They communicate in squeaks, clicks, and whistles; they work together to hunt; and, like other mammals, they breathe air and their calves drink milk.
A pleasant introduction to ocean inhabitants that will show well at storytime. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-41-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
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