Filled with questions any child might ask, replete with a sense of warmth and good cheer and packing enough offbeat facts to...
Everything you wondered about dogs but were afraid to ask is answered in this slim, friendly volume of canine Q&A.
Questions range from why dogs bark and wag their tails to why there are so many breeds to that perennial question of why they sniff each other’s bottoms. Each spread features a question on canine behavior or attributes, which is followed by whimsical and arch offerings from a chorus of cats (“Why do dogs do what we tell them? Because they don’t know how to use their own heads. Because they can’t open a can of dog food on their own. Because they want people to like them more than people like cats”). Factual, accessible text then provides straightforward answers and a focus on a breed that personifies said characteristic, complete with a textured illustration in rich earthy tones and a description of the breed and its assets as a pet. Endpapers show different breeds as well as imaginary mixed breeds to identify (answers are at the back of the book).
Filled with questions any child might ask, replete with a sense of warmth and good cheer and packing enough offbeat facts to entice even the most reluctant reader, this is bound to be a classroom favorite as well as a great choice for any dog lover. Can a selection on cats be far behind? (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 11, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7358-4014-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: NorthSouth
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011
Another playful imagination-stretcher.
Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.
As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.
Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781339049052
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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