The booklet will likely outlast the toy…but both are ephemeral at best.
A select photo gallery of toothy predators, enticingly packaged with a see-through plastic model.
Held together by small and easily breakable pins, the gaping, 9.5-inch great white comes largely but not entirely pre-assembled in a large box. A stand-alone booklet inconspicuously bringing up the rear features on its cover instructions and an anatomical diagram of the model that leaves at least one organ unlabeled. In the actual book, following a nod to extinct “forefish” Megalodon, are introductions to 10 types of sharks known to attack humans (nearly always, the author properly notes, by mistake). These offer tooth-filled but gore-free portraits accompanied by notes—printed in legibility-challenging blocks of black type over marine-blue backdrops—on each species’ habitat, hunting style, and such other marks of distinction as the tiger shark’s spectacularly omnivorous appetite (a lengthy list of found stomach contents includes, in part, “…video camera, horse head, bag of money, pigs, sheep, Barbie doll…”). A cutaway illustration accompanying interior descriptions of shark anatomy bears only a general resemblance to the one on the cover or to the model itself. Parts of this low-rent repackaging’s contents were issued in 2015.
The booklet will likely outlast the toy…but both are ephemeral at best. (Informational novelty. 6-9)Pub Date: July 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-32301-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
Illuminating, of course—and also a good deal of fun.
“Met-a-more-for-WHAT?” A stern instructor delivers life-cycle information to a class of wide-eyed firefly larvae.
Eventually even pulling a pair of class cutups to attention, the teacher—an adult rather oddly got up in a military uniform in Salcedo’s cartoon illustrations—lays down the (natural) law from “You have four different life cycle stages from when you’re an egg until you’re an adult!” to “As an adult firefly, you have just one job.” Supplementing the lecture with definitions and specific details in frequent side notes (“Finding a Mate 101”), the author covers diet, body parts, bioluminescence, molting, avoiding predators (notably cannibalistic fireflies of the Photuris genus and “giants” wielding jars with screw-top lids), and other topics. Following the teacher’s annoyed “What do you mean you have questions? I only have about 30 seconds left to live,” Foote appends follow-up pages of photos and further facts. She has her finger on the pulse of her audience, informing them of the firefly larva’s appealingly icky dining habits (liquefying its prey with poison) and realistically depicting a moment of near-total distraction when the young students delightedly repeat “bum” before being corrected by their teacher (“Grow up, larvae! It’s your flashing ABDOMEN”).
Illuminating, of course—and also a good deal of fun. (glossary, websites) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943147-32-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: The Innovation Press
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
Offer this heartwarming example of animal rehabilitation to fans of Winter’s Tail, by Juliana, Isabella, and Craig Hatkoff...
An Alaskan eagle’s broken beak is restored with modern technology.
In a straightforward, relatively simple text extensively illustrated with photographs, writer Rose and raptor biologist Veltkamp imagine the eagle’s early life and then chronicle her experience in human hands. After her beak was partially shot off and she couldn’t eat or drink properly, the fully grown eagle could no longer survive in the wild. In her first rescue center, her wounds were treated and she was given a name, Beauty. Transferred to biologist Veltkamp’s raptor center in Idaho, she came to the attention of an engineer who designed and printed a 3-D prosthetic to replace the missing part of her upper beak. After a dentist installed it, she could drink on her own and use her beak to preen her feathers as eagles do. Solid information about bald eagles in the wild is woven into the story, and lengthy backmatter describes eagle physical characteristics and protection efforts. Beauty’s beak is now regenerating and she no longer uses that prosthetic, but, an author’s note tells readers, other animals and humans do use similar replacement parts. Resources include web connections and QR codes to be used with a Cornell Lab of Ornithology app.
Offer this heartwarming example of animal rehabilitation to fans of Winter’s Tail, by Juliana, Isabella, and Craig Hatkoff (2009), and similar stories. (Nonfiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943978-28-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Persnickety Press
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
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