The author of Megatooth (1991) and Gigantic (1999) returns to prehistory to share the saga of the mammoth, an ancient relative of the elephant that wandered from Africa to Alaska before and during the last Ice Age. Using a large picture-book format and integrating spot watercolor illustrations throughout the text, he discusses how people learned of the mammoths, and then visualizes the world in which the mammoths flourished and then perished. While most people know of the woolly mammoth, O’Brien also describes several other species, including the steppe mammoth, imperial mammoth, Columbian mammoth, and even a dwarf mammoth, the size of a large dog, living on the island of Malta. Especially fine are the detailed drawings of other members of the mammoth family tree and comparison drawings of trunks, heads, and tusks of various mammoths. Libraries that have just purchased Caroline Arnold’s When Mammoths Walked the Earth (p. 1026) may consider a second title covering much the same material redundant; however, O’Brien’s title has less text and will better suit a younger reader. (Nonfiction. 5-9)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-8050-6596-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An inspiring story of young boy's compelling desire to read. As a boy of nine, Booker works in a salt mine from the dark of early morning to the gloom of night, hungry for a meal, but even hungrier to learn to read. Readers follow him on his quest in Malden, Virginia, where he finds inspiration in a man ``brown as me'' reading a newspaper on a street corner. An alphabet book helps, but Booker can't make the connection to words. Seeking out ``that brown face of hope'' once again, Booker gains a sense of the sounds represented by letters, and these become his deliverance. Bradby's fine first book is tautly written, with a poetic, spiritual quality in every line. The beautifully executed, luminous illustrations capture the atmosphere of an African-American community post-slavery: the drudgery of days consumed by back- breaking labor, the texture of private lives conducted by lantern- light. There is no other context or historical note about Booker T. Washington's life, leaving readers to piece together his identity. Regardless, this is an immensely satisfying, accomplished work, resonating first with longing and then with joy. (Picture book. 5- 8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-531-09464-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1995
Categories: CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL FICTION
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The tough working trucks in Kate and Jim McMullan’s I Stink! (2002) and sequels look like lightweights next to their brawny prehistoric antecedents in Gall’s rousing, grimy full-bleed spreads. Crushing rocks and trees, flattening smaller creatures and sending diminutive cave people fleeing in pop-eyed panic, a round dozen metal behemoths roll by, from towering Craneosaurus—“CRACK, MUNCH. / Look out birds, it’s time for lunch!”—and the grossly incontinent Blacktopodon to a stampede of heavily armored Semisaurs and the “bully of the jungle,” toothy Tyrannosaurus Trux. Why aren’t these motorized monsters with us today? They are, though in the wake of a mighty storm that left most mired in the mud to rust, the survivors went South and, as a climactic foldout reveals, evolved into the more beneficent vehicles we know and love. Dinotrux ruled their world, and now they’re likely to rule this one too. Bellow on! (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-316-02777-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2009
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