Mesmerizing and insightful.
A sea turtle survives a perilous journey.
Born on a nature reserve in Mexico, the turtle faces a series of challenges: climbing out of her nest, making it across the beach to the ocean while avoiding raccoons and other hungry creatures, searching for food, defying even more predators such as gulls and sharks, and getting entangled in a fishing net—which necessitates a rescue by humans. The turtle makes it to age 30. Now it’s time to mate, return to her birthplace, “like a sailor equipped with an internal magnetic compass,” and complete the delicate dance of finding the perfect spot for her nest. Employing language both precise and imaginative, marine biologist and conservationist Bearzi expertly describes the mechanics of sea turtles’ movements and morphology. Boersma’s stunning, intimate illustrations seamlessly complement the text, from a cutaway view of the nest to a gorgeous bird’s-eye view of unsuspecting baby turtles making sand trails in the shadow cast by the wing of an avian hunter. She captures her subjects’ every emotion: determination on the faces of hatchlings propelling themselves from the nest, fear in the eyes of an unlucky youngster grabbed by a crab. Sweeping undersea scenes, including maps of ocean currents on the sea turtle’s journey, vividly illustrate the life of this wondrous creature. It’s all capped by in-depth backmatter, including information on how readers can protect sea turtles and a look at several specific species.
Mesmerizing and insightful. (author’s note, guidance for those interested in studying sea turtles, information on how temperature and artificial lights affect sea turtles, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781250901675
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among
Pete, the cat who couldn’t care less, celebrates Christmas with his inimitable lassitude.
If it weren’t part of the title and repeated on every other page, readers unfamiliar with Pete’s shtick might have a hard time arriving at “groovy” to describe his Christmas celebration, as the expressionless cat displays not a hint of groove in Dean’s now-trademark illustrations. Nor does Pete have a great sense of scansion: “On the first day of Christmas, / Pete gave to me… / A road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” The cat is shown at the wheel of a yellow microbus strung with garland and lights and with a star-topped tree tied to its roof. On the second day of Christmas Pete gives “me” (here depicted as a gray squirrel who gets on the bus) “2 fuzzy gloves, and a road trip to the sea. / GROOVY!” On the third day, he gives “me” (now a white cat who joins Pete and the squirrel) “3 yummy cupcakes,” etc. The “me” mentioned in the lyrics changes from day to day and gift to gift, with “4 far-out surfboards” (a frog), “5 onion rings” (crocodile), and “6 skateboards rolling” (a yellow bird that shares its skateboards with the white cat, the squirrel, the frog, and the crocodile while Pete drives on). Gifts and animals pile on until the microbus finally arrives at the seaside and readers are told yet again that it’s all “GROOVY!”
Pete’s fans might find it groovy; anyone else has plenty of other “12 Days of Christmas” variants to choose among . (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-267527-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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