A remarkably effective combination of history and natural history of a mysterious ecosystem.
The remote and forbidding central Australian desert called the “Dead Heart” appears lifeless, but it harbors curious creatures whose tracks appear in the early morning and evidence of an ancient, wetter world.
After introducing fossil evidence and the broad knowledge of the original desert dwellers, the author/illustrator organizes her description of this secret world by following the path of an early expedition. In 1844, Charles Sturt hoped to find an inland sea; instead, he saw only a hostile wasteland. Linocut rubbings, inset maps and lines from Sturt's journal run along the bottom of each spread; linocut prints in black and brick red show what he missed. Some illustrations are cutaways, showing animals underground, with boxed, smaller images for identification; others are day or nighttime scenes, some with a key that helps readers see the camouflaged animals. In roughly alternating paragraphs, Oliver contrasts the experience of the 1844 expedition with what can be discovered by a determined naturalist. From mulga scrub and spinifex grasses to lizards, insects and rodentlike marsupials, the plants and animals are surprising. The author also provides Aboriginal names (in three languages) for some creatures, and near the end, a spread shows a silent expedition watcher, a successful hunter who could read the mysterious tracks that the Europeans could not.
A remarkably effective combination of history and natural history of a mysterious ecosystem. (bibliography, index of animals, author’s note) (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6761-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2014
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading.
When Franklin School principal Mr. Boone announces a pet-show fundraiser, white third-grader Cody—whose lack of skill and interest in academics is matched by keen enthusiasm for and knowledge of animals—discovers his time to shine.
As with other books in this series, the children and adults are believable and well-rounded. Even the dialogue is natural—no small feat for a text easily accessible to intermediate readers. Character growth occurs, organically and believably. Students occasionally, humorously, show annoyance with teachers: “He made mad squinty eyes at Mrs. Molina, which fortunately she didn’t see.” Readers will be kept entertained by Cody’s various problems and the eventual solutions. His problems include needing to raise $10 to enter one of his nine pets in the show (he really wants to enter all of them), his troublesome dog Angus—“a dog who ate homework—actually, who ate everything and then threw up afterward”—struggles with homework, and grappling with his best friend’s apparently uncaring behavior toward a squirrel. Serious values and issues are explored with a light touch. The cheery pencil illustrations show the school’s racially diverse population as well as the memorable image of Mr. Boone wearing an elephant costume. A minor oddity: why does a child so immersed in animal facts call his male chicken a rooster but his female chickens chickens?
Another winner from Mills, equally well suited to reading aloud and independent reading. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-374-30223-8
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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