Not only a special adoption story, but also a heartwarming look at the human-animal relationship.
At the center of this tale based on a true story is an adorable baby gorilla whose mother does not know how to take care of him.
When Umande is born on a winter night at the zoo, “[h]e cries, as if to say ‘Will you hold me?’ ” Unfortunately none of the other gorillas do. Faulconer writes simply, describing the facts of the situation. Readers are immediately drawn into the challenge that the zookeepers face. Around the clock, human caregivers groom, feed and model appropriate gorilla behavior to help ensure his future survival. Hartung uses oil glazes on sealed paper that is then rubbed or scratched to create textured effects. This technique allows the snowflakes to seem as if they are drifting off the page, and in other scenes, readers can almost feel the tufts of yellow hay that makes up Umande’s enclosed habitat. When he is about 8 months old, zookeepers decide to try and find a female gorilla at another zoo who can be a mother to Umande. Children will delight in seeing Umande peeking out the window of a plane and ultimately, over a period of weeks, connecting with Lulu, the gorilla who will be his new mom.
Not only a special adoption story, but also a heartwarming look at the human-animal relationship. (note) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8037-3762-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2014
Hee haw.
The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity.
Buzz and his buzzy buddy open a spinoff series of nonfiction early readers with an aquarium visit.
Buzz: “Like other fish, sharks breathe through gills.” Fly Guy: “GILLZZ.” Thus do the two pop-eyed cartoon tour guides squire readers past a plethora of cramped but carefully labeled color photos depicting dozens of kinds of sharks in watery settings, along with close-ups of skin, teeth and other anatomical features. In the bite-sized blocks of narrative text, challenging vocabulary words like “carnivores” and “luminescence” come with pronunciation guides and lucid in-context definitions. Despite all the flashes of dentifrice and references to prey and smelling blood in the water, there is no actual gore or chowing down on display. Sharks are “so cool!” proclaims Buzz at last, striding out of the gift shop. “I can’t wait for our next field trip!” (That will be Fly Guy Presents: Space, scheduled for September 2013.)
A first-rate sharkfest, unusually nutritious for all its brevity. (Informational easy reader. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-50771-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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