Several bird friends overcome their reluctance to help unfamiliar animals in a colorful but lightly plotted picture book by debut author/illustrator Newton.
Nate, a blue bird with a short, round beak, and his friends Tern Tern, PJ (a pelican) and Gully (who doesn’t appear to be a sea gull) decide to go fishing. But when they arrive at the beach, they discover that their usual place is covered with horseshoe crabs. Nate offers some interesting facts about horseshoe crabs: “April through June, around the full moon, the Horseshoe crabs come out to play.” But when Nate encourages his friends to help the crabs get back to the ocean, the friends reject the idea: The crabs are too creepy looking, they protest. What if they sting? Once again, Nate offers some facts about the crabs: They don’t sting, they’ve been around since the dinosaurs, and they’re useful to humans, who don’t otherwise appear in the book. Still not convinced, the friends won’t help until Nate encourages them to imagine themselves stranded on an island somewhere. The plot ends up with no real conflict or character development, since Nate never has to take a stand against his friends’ prejudice and is able to convince them without much trouble, but the story does offer a lesson in empathy, imagining what it’s like to be in someone else’s shoes. Young readers may also pick up enough interesting tidbits about horseshoe crabs to want to investigate the fascinating creatures on their own. With character designs a bit reminiscent of Mo Willems’ Pigeon and Duckling, Newton’s charming, simplistic illustrations might encourage children to attempt their own drawn versions of the bird friends or the rocklike horseshoe crabs. Some of the words are printed in a different color for no apparent reason, and the backgrounds and word balloons are a bit amateurish. Still, young readers will flock toward the bird friends and may not mind that the simple plot is easily resolved.
A facile, fairly conflict-free picture book with charming character design and enough science facts to inspire animal lovers to research further.
Pub Date: March 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-0615820033
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Bookian
Review Posted Online: July 8, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
SEEN & HEARD
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story.
A home-renovation project is interrupted by a family of wrens, allowing a young girl an up-close glimpse of nature.
Renata and her father enjoy working on upgrading their bathroom, installing a clawfoot bathtub, and cutting a space for a new window. One warm night, after Papi leaves the window space open, two wrens begin making a nest in the bathroom. Rather than seeing it as an unfortunate delay of their project, Renata and Papi decide to let the avian carpenters continue their work. Renata witnesses the birth of four chicks as their rosy eggs split open “like coats that are suddenly too small.” Renata finds at a crucial moment that she can help the chicks learn to fly, even with the bittersweet knowledge that it will only hasten their exits from her life. Rosen uses lively language and well-chosen details to move the story of the baby birds forward. The text suggests the strong bond built by this Afro-Latinx father and daughter with their ongoing project without needing to point it out explicitly, a light touch in a picture book full of delicate, well-drawn moments and precise wording. Garoche’s drawings are impressively detailed, from the nest’s many small bits to the developing first feathers on the chicks and the wall smudges and exposed wiring of the renovation. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
Renata’s wren encounter proves magical, one most children could only wish to experience outside of this lovely story. (Picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-12320-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
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.
