Worthy leafing.
From France, an encyclopedic encomium to trees.
Five chapters are further broken down into double-page spreads with headlined text and many labeled illustrations. The first chapter (“Amazing Plants”) is engrossing and scientific except for the glaring contradiction in this glib subheading: “Trees are plants that tower high in the sky.” Why glaring? Directly next to it are three finely detailed, labeled drawings of heather, gorse, and hazelnut. Their subheading is “Trees grow in every size!”—and, indeed, heather’s maximum height of 3 feet emphasizes a height range that dips far below “towering.” The rest of the double-page spread includes an excellent list of five characteristics that distinguish trees from other plants; an appealing sidebar explaining why palm and bamboo are not trees; and a detailed illustration of an English oak with arrows pointing out basic components. Throughout, text and layout are accessible and engaging, with a variety that includes straight facts about leaves, growth, reproduction, and communication, as well as activities such as multiple-choice quizzes and directions to figure out a tree’s height. The art is a great boon, exuding an aura of reverence in its careful details and coloration. Interspersed seek-and-find pages are an exemplary collaboration of art and text that encourages readers to use observation skills to learn additional arboreal information. Pretty double-page spreads show specific sites with labeled trees. Below, details from the scene accompany questions such as, “Which tree doesn’t let anything grow at its base?” (This review has been updated for factual accuracy.)
Worthy leafing. (contents, index, answers) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-61689-971-4
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A refreshing dive past some of our world’s marine wonders.
Denizens of the deep crowd oversized pages in this populous gallery of ocean life.
The finny and tentacled sea creatures drifting or arrowing through Zommer’s teeming watercolor seascapes are generally recognizable, and they are livened rather than distorted by the artist’s tendency to place human eyes on the same side of many faces, Picasso-like. Headers such as “Ink-teresting” or “In for the krill” likewise add a playful tone to the pithy comments on anatomical features or behavioral quirks that accompany the figures (which include, though rarely, a white human diver). The topical spreads begin with an overview of ocean families (“Some are hairy, some have scales, some have fins and some are boneless and brainless!”), go on to introduce select animals in no particular order from sea horses and dragonets to penguins and pufferfish, then close with cautionary remarks on chemical pollution and floating plastic. The author invites readers as they go to find both answers to such questions as “Why does a crab run sideways?” and also a small sardine hidden in some, but not all, of the pictures. For the latter he provides a visual key at the end, followed by a basic glossary.
A refreshing dive past some of our world’s marine wonders. (index) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-500-65119-3
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
An amiable point-counterpoint for budding animal lovers/haters.
Forty-two creatures of ill repute, from scorpions to hyenas, put on their best faces and protest that they’re just misunderstood.
In paired double-page spreads, Corrigan first presents for each animal the case for considering it scary or gross, then, with the page turn, allows it to contradict itself. “I’m creepy and I’m crawly,” a spider supposedly gloats. “I spin webs from my butt and leave them in places where I KNOW you’ll get stuck in them.” In the following spread, the spider points out that “Only half of my kind spin webs, and we really, REALLY don’t want you to get stuck in them!” Along with pointing to roles in the natural order and including many crowd-pleasing references to butts and poop, these counterarguments tend to run along the lines of the rat’s “I’m a fluffy little SWEETIE!” and the toad’s “I am a plump lump of CUTENESS!” Each testimonial is backed up by a box of background information baldly labeled “FACTS.” Readers may find the chorus of smiley faces and claims of adorability unconvincing, but they will at least come away with more nuanced impressions of each creepy-crawly. The humorous cartoon illustrations don’t measure up to the in-your-face photos of Seymour Simon’s classic Animals Nobody Loves (2001), but this gallery of beasties unfairly regarded as “icky and ewwy and downright gross” is considerably broader.
An amiable point-counterpoint for budding animal lovers/haters. (glossary) (Nonfiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7112-4748-2
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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