by Libby Walden ; illustrated by Stephanie Fizer Coleman ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2018
Pleasant if scattershot encounters with the wild world for budding naturalists.
A select gallery of woodland and pond life appears on (and behind) parallel gatefold flaps.
Gathered in broad if arbitrarily ordered groups from “Plants” and “Animals” to “Habitats” and “Baby Animals,” 36 large oblong flaps, six per spread, each feature an isolated image and a large label on the outside, with a second, somewhat broader image and a one- or two-sentence observation beneath. Several of the creatures here—even the ants—bear anthropomorphic smiles, but Coleman’s vivacious paintings of flora, fauna, and natural features are otherwise reasonably accurate. Likewise, aside from a simplistic claim that the “colorful parts of a flower are called petals,” the notes add reliable and easily grasped facts. Both here and in a co-published dive into the Ocean, from “Coral Reef” to “Deep Sea,” printed lines that are hard to make out against dark backgrounds do furnish occasional challenges to legibility but leave the visuals, which are the main attraction, unaffected.
Pleasant if scattershot encounters with the wild world for budding naturalists. (Informational novelty. 4-7)Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-944530-14-3
Page Count: 18
Publisher: 360 Degrees
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
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by Shelley Rotner ; photographed by Shelley Rotner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 16, 2018
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer.
Rotner follows up her celebrations of spring and autumn with this look at all things winter.
Beginning with the signs that winter is coming—bare trees, shorter days, colder temperatures—Rotner eases readers into the season. People light fires and sing songs on the solstice, trees and plants stop growing, and shadows grow long. Ice starts to form on bodies of water and windows. When the snow flies, the fun begins—bundle up and then build forts, make snowballs and snowmen (with eyebrows!), sled, ski (nordic is pictured), skate, snowshoe, snowboard, drink hot chocolate. Animals adapt to the cold as well. “Birds grow more feathers” (there’s nothing about fluffing and air insulation) and mammals, more hair. They have to search for food, and Rotner discusses how many make or find shelter, slow down, hibernate, or go underground or underwater to stay warm. One page talks about celebrating holidays with lights and decorations. The photos show a lit menorah, an outdoor deciduous tree covered in huge Christmas bulbs, a girl next to a Chinese dragon head, a boy with lit luminarias, and some fireworks. The final spread shows signs of the season’s shift to spring. Rotner’s photos, as always, are a big draw. The children are a marvelous mix of cultures and races, and all show their clear delight with winter.
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3976-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
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by Gwen Agna & Shelley Rotner ; photographed by Shelley Rotner
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by Michelle Schaub ; illustrated by Blanca Gómez ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 12, 2024
Enticing and eco-friendly.
Why and how to make a rain garden.
Having watched through their classroom window as a “rooftop-rushing, gutter-gushing” downpour sloppily flooded their streets and playground, several racially diverse young children follow their tan-skinned teacher outside to lay out a shallow drainage ditch beneath their school’s downspout, which leads to a patch of ground, where they plant flowers (“native ones with tough, thick roots,” Schaub specifies) to absorb the “mucky runoff” and, in time, draw butterflies and other wildlife. The author follows up her lilting rhyme with more detailed explanations of a rain garden’s function and construction, including a chart to help determine how deep to make the rain garden and a properly cautionary note about locating a site’s buried utility lines before starting to dig; she concludes with a set of leads to online information sources. Gómez goes more for visual appeal than realism. In her scenes, a group of smiling, round-headed, very small children in rain gear industriously lay large stones along a winding border with little apparent effort; nevertheless, her images of the little ones planting generic flowers that are tall and lush just a page turn later do make the outdoorsy project look like fun.
Enticing and eco-friendly. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781324052357
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Norton Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
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