A useful guide to avoiding a dangerous bug.
A slim guide that aims to equip children with important information about ticks.
Alex wants to play with her friend José, but José is too sick. Her mother explains that José was bitten by a tick, which gave him a disease that made him tired and weak. Alex’s mother pulls out a book called No Ticks Please to explain where ticks hide, how they transmit diseases and how people can avoid them. The book explains that ticks are often found in “woods, bushes, and tall grasses,” and repeats the phrase often to drive the point home for a young audience. Alex also learns that the remarkably tiny ticks hide in warm, moist spaces and seek out the warm bodies of animals, where they live and drink blood: “The warm body can be a mouse, a chipmunk, or other creatures full of mischief and spunk.” The book-within-a-book is written in an awkward meter, with unnecessary rhymes, but it carries an important message: Yes, you can still go on adventures, but you need to be careful. Fox (No Ticks Please, 2011, etc.) manages to explain something that could potentially alarm children—tiny, vampire-like bugs that carry a debilitating disease—in a straightforward, nonfrightening way. She makes it clear how serious Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses are, but also shows José visiting the doctor, getting better and going back outside to play again. Seven pages of plain-language tips for avoiding ticks and removing them follow the story, with illustrations of campsites, constructions sites, woodpiles and other tick hangouts that will, hopefully, stick with kids. The book is fully illustrated in color, although the humans come off looking a bit stiff. That said, Seward’s illustrations are realistic enough that kids will be able to recognize hard-to-spot ticks if they happen to see one.
A useful guide to avoiding a dangerous bug.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481177320
Page Count: 42
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Adults looking for an easy entry into this subject will not be disappointed.
This book presents a simplified explanation of the role the atmosphere plays in controlling climate.
The authors present a planet as a ball and its atmosphere as a blanket that envelops the ball. If the blanket is thick, the planet will be hot, as is the case for Venus. If the blanket is thin, the planet is cold, as with Mars. Planet Earth has a blanket that traps “just the right amount of heat.” The authors explain trees, animals, and oceans are part of what makes Earth’s atmosphere “just right.” “But…Uh-oh! People on Earth are changing the blanket!” The book goes on to explain how some human activities are sending “greenhouse gases” into the atmosphere, thus “making the blanket heavier and thicker” and “making Earth feel unwell.” In the case of a planet feeling unwell, what would the symptoms be? Sea-level rises that lead to erosion, flooding, and island loss, along with extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, blizzards, and wildfires. Ending on a constructive note, the authors name a few of the remedies to “help our Earth before it’s too late!” By using the blanket analogy, alongside simple and clear illustrations, this otherwise complex topic becomes very accessible to young children, though caregivers will need to help with the specialized vocabulary.
Adults looking for an easy entry into this subject will not be disappointed. (Board book. 3-4)Pub Date: Aug. 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4926-8082-6
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
A fun, new take on droppings.
Youngsters can learn about where and how various animals, domestic and wild, relieve themselves.
Via a pull-tab embedded in each recto (not, thankfully, in the rectum) readers can see the before and after, and a goldfish in a bowl leaves a trail while swimming. The verso asks each creature where it does its business, and then a (sometimes-forced) rhyming quatrain, translated from Italian, answers the question: “And where do YOU poop, mouse? / When inside my tummy / Starts to feel not so good / It’s time for a poop / On these chips made of wood!” The final double-page spread queries readers: “And where do YOU poop?” A redheaded, White toddler’s face is visible below this question; the pull-tab on the right opens a bathroom to reveal a White toddler, this time with medium brown hair, happily and modestly sitting on a blue toddler potty. The accompanying quatrain provides some developmentally appropriate guidance for feeling the signs of a movement coming on. Baruzzi’s art is droll and graphically clean (inasmuch as the depiction of excrement can be described that way). Little fingers may need some help finding the relatively easy-to-open and sturdy pull-tabs, since they blend into each page. It works as both a biology lesson and potty-training encouragement.
A fun, new take on droppings. (Novelty board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-66265-042-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: minedition
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
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