A crowd-pleaser, both verbally and visually.
A swim with the cetacean clan adds another chapter to Davey’s long-running series of salutes to wild creatures.
The author/illustrator fills the spaces between narrative blocks with an abundance of sea life, providing full-body and close-up views of over two dozen types of whales as well as images of their prey, from tiny krill to eels, seals, squid, and sharks. In one to-scale scene, a diminutive scuba diver leads a parade of whales, from a massive blue on down, to demonstrate their great range of sizes and shapes; in another (not to scale), six very different-looking whales from a narwhal to a pink river dolphin go nose-to-nose in a literal face off. Elsewhere, sleek specimens twist, breach, hunt, or show off special features as the author lucidly lays out their shapes, behaviors, and unique qualities with a sure sense of what will catch the attention of his young audience. Readers wondering which animals are the loudest in the world, for instance, will find their answer here—and may be further gobsmacked to learn that not only do humpback whales sing an evolving chorus of moans, cries, and clicks, but orcas actually have regional accents. Following a few glimpses of whales in mythology, including an introduction to a ghostly Japanese “bone whale,” Davey closes with a plea to join international efforts to protect these rare and intelligent creatures.
A crowd-pleaser, both verbally and visually. (index) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9781838742300
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An affectionate picture of bears and bear scientists, capped with a page of moon bear facts and an afterword.
Not one but three roly-poly moon bear cubs star in this true animal rescue tale.
Orphaned by poachers, Yasha, joined later by Shum and Shiksha, are nurtured by Pokrovskaya and another scientist for nearly two years on a game preserve until they were ready to be released into the Siberian wild. Taking a slightly anthropomorphized bear’s-eye point of view (“Yasha was happy with his new home”), Kvatum chronicles the cubs’ development as they learn to forage on their own while playing together and learning to climb trees. She also notes how important it is for human observers to remain aloof—minimizing physical contact and even wearing scent-concealing clothing—to prevent the animals from becoming dependent or domesticated. Looking positively fetching in the big, color photos, shaggy Yasha and his ursine cohorts grow visibly as they ramble through woodsy settings, splash in a river and survive an encounter with a prowling tiger before being deemed ready to live on their own.
An affectionate picture of bears and bear scientists, capped with a page of moon bear facts and an afterword. (map, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: July 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4263-1051-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: National Geographic
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2012
“Humans are lucky to have rodents,” Munro argues…and makes her case with equal warmth to hearts and minds.
Twenty-one representatives of the largest mammalian order pose in this fetching portrait gallery.
Each one depicted, all or in part, at actual size, the rodentine array begins with a pocket-watch–size African pygmy jerboa and concludes with the largest member of the clan, the “sweet-looking capybara.” In between, specimens climb the scale past chipmunks and northern flying squirrels to a Norway rat, porcupine, and groundhog. Despite a few outliers such as the naked mole rat and a rather aggressive-looking beaver, Munro’s animals—particularly her impossibly cute guinea pig—strongly exude shaggy, button-eyed appeal. Her subjects may come across as eye candy, but they are drawn with naturalistic exactitude, and in her accompanying descriptive comments, she often relates certain visible features to distinctive habitats and behaviors. She also has a terrific feel for the memorable fact: naked mole rats run as quickly backward in their tunnels as forward; African giant pouched rats have been trained to sniff out mines; the house mouse “is a romantic. A male mouse will sing squeaky love songs to his girlfriend” (that are, fortunately or otherwise, too high for humans to hear). Closing summaries will serve budding naturalists in need of further specifics about sizes, diets, geographical ranges, and the like.
“Humans are lucky to have rodents,” Munro argues…and makes her case with equal warmth to hearts and minds. (websites, index) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3860-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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