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MERMAID DANCE

Name: MERMAID DANCE
Author: Marjorie Rose Hakala
ISBN: 978-1-934706-47-3

by Marjorie Rose Hakala and illustrated by Mark Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2009

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Hakala’s enchanting tale explores the fantastical world of mermaids. As evening arrives and the tide rises high, a school of colorful mermaids gathers at the shore. These fey creatures adorn the coast with ocean treasures for their midnight feast. After dining on the sea’s bounty, the mermaids dance among the waves in a celebration of the summer solstice. Gentle text that mimics the steady rhythm of the sea offers readers a soothing lullaby. Jones’s pastel illustrations provide a lush background for the beguiling tale. A vivid palette illuminates the intensity of the ocean at dusk. His layered, luminescent pictures present a unique perspective of activity both above and below the surface. This bewitching combination of ethereal paintings and fanciful text invites readers to contemplate the secrets of the sea long after the book is closed. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: June 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-1-934706-47-3

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Blue Apple

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2009

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

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MARCH OF THE MINI BEASTS

From the The DATA Set series , Vol. 1

by Ada Hopper ; illustrated by Sam Ricks ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 5, 2016

First of a tasty if not immediately nourishing new series.

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When Dr. Bunsen, Gabe, Laura, and Cesar's mad-scientist neighbor, tries out his growth machine on Gabe's plastic animal toys, there's an unexpected result—they come to life.

Second-grade whiz kids Gabriel Martinez, Laura Reyes, and Cesar Moreno meet their strange neighbor while fundraising for a science-club field trip. Known to their classmates as “the Data Set,” they each have individual passions: Gabe loves animals; Laura loves to tinker and invent; Cesar loves to read and eat. There’s room for all these activities in their well-equipped treehouse. Together, their fantastic adventures will be the stuff of four titles scheduled for 2016 and aimed directly at first- and second-graders already devouring books. This episode introduces the characters, sets up the problem (the cute but rapidly growing baby animals), and finds a solution (sneak them into the zoo) in 126 fast-paced pages written with plenty of dialogue and copiously illustrated with appealing drawings. With these Latino protagonists—Cesar has dark skin and curly hair, while Laura and Gabe have lighter skin and straight hair—and a STEM-infused plot, this would seem to have been made to order for today’s elementary school students. While the emphasis is far more on plot than STEM, the kid-friendly fantasy should captivate readers, who will certainly want to gobble up the next installment. (Tantalizingly, the opening pages are included.)

First of a tasty if not immediately nourishing new series. (Adventure. 5-8)

Pub Date: April 5, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-4814-5729-3

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Jan. 8, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ACTION & ADVENTURE FICTION | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY

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FIELD TRIP TO THE MOON

From the Field Trip Adventures series

by John Hare ; illustrated by John Hare ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2019

A close encounter of the best kind.

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Left behind when the space bus departs, a child discovers that the moon isn’t as lifeless as it looks.

While the rest of the space-suited class follows the teacher like ducklings, one laggard carrying crayons and a sketchbook sits down to draw our home planet floating overhead, falls asleep, and wakes to see the bus zooming off. The bright yellow bus, the gaggle of playful field-trippers, and even the dull gray boulders strewn over the equally dull gray lunar surface have a rounded solidity suggestive of Plasticine models in Hare’s wordless but cinematic scenes…as do the rubbery, one-eyed, dull gray creatures (think: those stress-busting dolls with ears that pop out when squeezed) that emerge from the regolith. The mutual shock lasts but a moment before the lunarians eagerly grab the proffered crayons to brighten the bland gray setting with silly designs. The creatures dive into the dust when the bus swoops back down but pop up to exchange goodbye waves with the errant child, who turns out to be an olive-skinned kid with a mop of brown hair last seen drawing one of their new friends with the one crayon—gray, of course—left in the box. Body language is expressive enough in this debut outing to make a verbal narrative superfluous.

A close encounter of the best kind. (Picture book. 6-8)