A party to remember—and a species to respect.
Get to know the crocodilian family—crocodiles, alligators and caimans, and gharials—at an eventful birthday party.
Eaton (The Truth About Elephants, 2018, etc.) continues his series of tongue-in-cheek introductions to iconic animal species with facts and fancies about these toothy reptiles. Cartoon illustrations feature talking animals (mainly white-coated scientist turtles) and the brown-skinned human birthday girl. Text is presented in speech bubbles, callout boxes, and a simple informational narrative. Facts and exaggerated fiction mingle in both words and pictures. Young readers, listeners, and even adults will enjoy the humor and the curious infobits presented along with the usual important topics: distinguishing among the major groups and describing where crocs live around the world, their reptile characteristics, customary habitat and behavior, feeding, child-rearing, ways to avoid the threat they pose to humans, and the threats they face from humans. The illustrations are lively. On the title page, three crocs speed down a waterway in an Everglades-style airboat. An early spread shows an Australian freshwater crocodile floating underwater, with ears, eyes, and nostrils above. Its “powerful tail for swimming” is highlighted. The tail returns, later, when “The croc, powered by its muscular tail, bursts out of the water with its jaws open” to demolish a piñata at the birthday party. Repetition, humor, and surprise help cement the learning.
A party to remember—and a species to respect. (Informational picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-19844-0
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude.
A deceptively simple, visually appealing, comprehensive explanation of volcanoes.
Gibbons packs an impressive number of facts into this browsable nonfiction picture book. The text begins with the awe of a volcanic eruption: “The ground begins to rumble…ash, hot lava and rock, and gases shoot up into the air.” Diagrams of the Earth’s structural layers—inner and outer core, mantle, and crust—undergird a discussion about why volcanoes occur. Simple maps of the Earth’s seven major tectonic plates show where volcanoes are likeliest to develop. Other spreads with bright, clearly labeled illustrations cover intriguing subtopics: four types of volcanoes and how they erupt; underwater volcanoes; well-known volcanoes and historic volcanic eruptions around the world; how to be safe in the vicinity of a volcano; and the work of scientists studying volcanoes and helping to predict eruptions. A page of eight facts about volcanoes wraps things up. The straightforward, concise prose will be easy for young readers to follow. As always, Gibbons manages to present a great deal of information in a compact form.
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude. (Nonfiction picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4569-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on.
Sharpson offers so-fish-ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas.
The title says it all. Our unseen narrator is just fine with other animals: mammals. Reptiles. Even birds. But fish? Don’t trust them! First off, the rules always seem to change with fish. Some live in fresh water; some reside in salt water. Some have gills, while others have lungs. You can never see what they’re up to, since they hang out underwater, and they’re always eating those poor, innocent crabs. Soon, the narrator introduces readers to Jeff, a vacant-eyed yellow fish—but don’t be fooled! Jeff’s “the craftiest fish of all.” All fish are, apparently, hellbent on world domination, the narrator warns. “DON’T TRUST FISH!” Finally, at the tail end, we get a sly glimpse of our unreliable narrator. Readers needn’t be ichthyologists to appreciate Sharpson’s meticulous comic timing. (“Ships always sink at sea. They never sink on land. Isn’t that strange?”) His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between extreme realism and goofy hilarity. He also fills the book with his own clever gags (such as an image of Gilligan’s Island’s S.S. Minnow going down and a bottle of sauce labeled “Surly Chik’n Srir’racha’r”).
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593616673
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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