Visually captivating introduction to the red fox’s secret life.
This yearlong chronicle explores the physical attributes, habits, and habitat of the red fox.
While “her long, fluffy tail covers her body like a blanket,” Vixen, a red fox, is oblivious to the February snows. With her acute senses of smell and hearing, Vixen hunts in winter and forages plant foods the rest of the year. Because she prefers hunting at dawn and dusk, Vixen’s life remains secret. As spring approaches, Vixen and her mate “stay in touch,” marking their territory. After making a den in an abandoned burrow, Vixen gives birth to four kits, nurturing them for four weeks while her mate brings her food. After the kits emerge, they spend the summer learning to hunt and eventually depart to claim their own territories. Through the narrative about Vixen, Pringle thoughtfully explains how red foxes are canines, omnivores, and predators, including just enough specifics on hunting, mating, and parenting, with specialized vocabulary printed in italics in the narrative and defined in a glossary. Rendered in muted pastels and aqua crayons on sanded paper, the impressionistically fuzzy but otherwise realistic illustrations add depth, drama, and detail to the informative, entertaining text. Intimate scenes of Vixen alternate with panoramic vistas, capturing the essence of the red fox and her world. A “More About the Red Fox” section supplements the text.
Visually captivating introduction to the red fox’s secret life. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62979-260-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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