by Maxwell Eaton III ; illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 8, 2018
This third in an engaging series of “seriously funny facts about your favorite animals” will both please and inform.
Facts about dolphins, fancifully presented.
Eaton’s introduction to the dolphin family is enlivened by humorous, digitally colored pen-and-ink cartoon-style drawings. Each spread presents important points in one to four sentences in a thick, readable typeface. These facts include the differences between dolphins and fish, their mammalian characteristics, the tail-first birth of their calves, their ubiquity in the world’s oceans, their behavior (hunting methods and usual prey, echolocation, communication, playfulness, cooperation), and threats they face. One spread shows examples of eight of the 40 dolphin species and gives weights for the smallest and largest. Speech bubbles add information and humor, especially from a sea gull commentator. There are some human onlookers, too, a brown-skinned girl and her diverse companions. The selected facts are accurate, appealing, and important; the threats—toxic pollution, boat traffic, industrial fishing, and the changing climate—are presented lightly along with the reassuring statement “you can help by learning about dolphins and then teaching others.” The package concludes with two pages of additional information and suggestions for further research. The difference between fact and fancy should be obvious even to elementary-age readers, who will enjoy the occasional silliness.
This third in an engaging series of “seriously funny facts about your favorite animals” will both please and inform. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62672-668-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
by Maxwell Eaton III ; illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III
by Maxwell Eaton III ; illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III
by Maxwell Eaton III ; illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III
More by Maxwell Eaton III
BOOK REVIEW
by Maxwell Eaton III ; illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III
BOOK REVIEW
by Maxwell Eaton III ; illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III
BOOK REVIEW
by Maxwell Eaton III ; illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III
by Kari Lavelle ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2023
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
Share your opinion of this book
More by Kari Lavelle
BOOK REVIEW
by Kari Lavelle ; illustrated by Nabi H. Ali
by Susannah Buhrman-Deever ; illustrated by Matthew Trueman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2020
A simple but effective look at a keystone species.
Sea otters are the key to healthy kelp forests on the Pacific coast of North America.
There have been several recent titles for older readers about the critical role sea otters play in the coastal Pacific ecosystem. This grand, green version presents it to even younger readers and listeners, using a two-level text and vivid illustrations. Biologist Buhrman-Deever opens as if she were telling a fairy tale: “On the Pacific coast of North America, where the ocean meets the shore, there are forests that have no trees.” The treelike forms are kelp, home to numerous creatures. Two spreads show this lush underwater jungle before its king, the sea otter, is introduced. A delicate balance allows this system to flourish, but there was a time that hunting upset this balance. The writer is careful to blame not the Indigenous peoples who had always hunted the area, but “new people.” In smaller print she explains that Russian explorations spurred the development of an international fur trade. Trueman paints the scene, concentrating on an otter family threatened by formidable harpoons from an abstractly rendered person in a small boat, with a sailing ship in the distance. “People do not always understand at first the changes they cause when they take too much.” Sea urchins take over; a page turn reveals a barren landscape. Happily, the story ends well when hunting stops and the otters return…and with them, the kelp forests.
A simple but effective look at a keystone species. (further information, select bibliography, additional resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8934-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Share your opinion of this book
More by Susannah Buhrman-Deever
BOOK REVIEW
by Susannah Buhrman-Deever ; illustrated by Bert Kitchen
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.