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PADDLE PERCH CLIMB

Name: PADDLE PERCH CLIMB
Author: Laurie Ellen Angus
ISBN: 978-1-58469-613-1

BIRD FEET ARE NEAT

by Laurie Ellen Angus ; illustrated by Laurie Ellen Angus ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2018

Paired with a book about beaks, this is sure to start many youngsters on the road to becoming avid bird-watchers.

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Children learn the many ways birds use their feet to find or catch food.

Angus presents seven birds that represent the diversity of feet found in the bird kingdom. Clever formatting gives readers the opportunity to guess each bird before a turn of the page reveals it in its habitat. “If you had long slender legs and toes, you could… // Wade like a heron to sneak up on a school of fish.” The first double-page spread shows a close-up of long yellow legs against the blue backdrop of a pond. The second pulls back to show the entire bird, an orange fish (reminiscent of a Goldfish cracker) in its long beak. Swans, a roadrunner, a woodpecker, cardinals, towhees, and an owl round out the cast. Backmatter provides additional facts about the species and a “Fun Foot Fact” for each; a section about adaptations that includes a chart of birds along with their habitats, feet, and beaks; a few activity ideas; bird-watching tips; and a resource list. Angus’ paper-collage illustrations are vibrantly colored and employ variously patterned and textured papers to highlight the birds, their habitats, and/or the other animals around them (each of the seven is pictured with a predator in the background). Marbled water, downy swan chicks, tree bark—all are vivid and arresting.

Paired with a book about beaks, this is sure to start many youngsters on the road to becoming avid bird-watchers. (Informational picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-58469-613-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Dawn Publications

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
OCTOPUS ESCAPES AGAIN!
by Laurie Ellen Angus ; illustrated by Laurie Ellen Angus

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DON'T TRUST FISH

by Neil Sharpson ; illustrated by Dan Santat ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 8, 2025

A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on.

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Sharpson offers so-fish-ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas.

The title says it all. Our unseen narrator is just fine with other animals: mammals. Reptiles. Even birds. But fish? Don’t trust them! First off, the rules always seem to change with fish. Some live in fresh water; some reside in salt water. Some have gills, while others have lungs. You can never see what they’re up to, since they hang out underwater, and they’re always eating those poor, innocent crabs. Soon, the narrator introduces readers to Jeff, a vacant-eyed yellow fish—but don’t be fooled! Jeff’s “the craftiest fish of all.” All fish are, apparently, hellbent on world domination, the narrator warns. “DON’T TRUST FISH!” Finally, at the tail end, we get a sly glimpse of our unreliable narrator. Readers needn’t be ichthyologists to appreciate Sharpson’s meticulous comic timing. (“Ships always sink at sea. They never sink on land. Isn’t that strange?”) His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between extreme realism and goofy hilarity. He also fills the book with his own clever gags (such as an image of Gilligan’s Island’s S.S. Minnow going down and a bottle of sauce labeled “Surly Chik’n Srir’racha’r”).

A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: April 8, 2025

ISBN: 9780593616673

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Dial Books

Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
A COPYCAT CONUNDRUM
by Lisa Yee ; illustrated by Dan Santat

- BOOK REVIEW
LEFTY
by Mo Willems ; illustrated by Dan Santat

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CASE OF THE MISSING TADPOLE
by Henry Winkler & Lin Oliver ; illustrated by Dan Santat

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THE LODGE THAT BEAVER BUILT

by Randi Sonenshine ; illustrated by Anne Hunter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 27, 2022

A boon for beaver storytimes or young naturalists living near beaver streams.

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Readers learn about a keystone species and the habitat they create.

In a “House That Jack Built” style (though minus the cumulative repetition), Sonenshine introduces children to beavers. Beginning with a beaver who’s just gnawed down a willow near their lodge, the author moves on to the dam that blocks the stream and protects their domed home and then to the yearlings that are working to repair it with sticks and mud. Muskrats and a musk turtle take advantage of the safety of the beavers’ lodge, while Coyote tries (and fails) to breach it. Then the book turns to other animals that enjoy the benefits of the pond the beavers have created: goose, ducklings, heron, moose. While the beavers aren’t in all these illustrations, evidence of them is. And then suddenly a flood takes out both the dam and the beavers’ lodge. So, the beavers move upstream to find a new spot to dam and build again, coming full circle back to the beginning of the book. Hunter’s ink-and–colored pencil illustrations have a scratchy style that is well suited to the beavers’ pelts, their watery surroundings, and the other animals that share their habitat. Careful observers will be well rewarded by the tiny details. Beavers are mostly nocturnal, which isn’t always faithfully depicted by Hunter. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A boon for beaver storytimes or young naturalists living near beaver streams. (beaver facts, glossary, further resources) (Informational picture book. 3-7)