Though the rather jarring juxtaposition of text and art styles keeps it from being totally awesome, this is a fun and...
A journallike text paired with detailed illustrations recounts the day-to-day life of a praying mantis.
Born in the springtime and mature in the summer, P. Mantis’ diary entries are laced with a dry humor as she recounts such adventures as shedding her skin, eating her siblings and other insects, nearly being eaten by another sibling, and enjoying the great outdoors before laying her eggs and lying down to “take a long nap” in the fall. The wry, first-person voice (“I ate one of my brothers. Okay, maybe two”) seems a bit at odds with the beautiful acrylic paintings. Lush, colorful illustrations that present riots of leaves and blooms that initially capture the eye reveal garden violence on closer inspection as readers finally zero in on the protagonist chowing down on a sibling, headfirst. Their immediate loveliness may have readers wondering whether perhaps a more cartoonish style would be a better fit for the text, akin to Harry Bliss and Doreen Cronin’s Diary of a Worm (2003). This general criticism aside, there’s much to appreciate about this fact- and humor-laden picture book, including its front and back endpapers, which are jammed with information about praying mantises.
Though the rather jarring juxtaposition of text and art styles keeps it from being totally awesome, this is a fun and fascinating read. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3671-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
An effective early chapter book conveyed in a slightly overdone gag.
Epistolary dispatches from the eternal canine/feline feud.
Simon the cat is angry. He had done a good job taking care of his boy, Andy, but now that Andy’s parents are divorced, a dog named Baxter has moved into Andy’s dad’s house. Simon believes that there isn’t enough room in Andy’s life for two furry friends, so he uses the power of the pen to get Baxter to move out. Inventively for the early-chapter-book format, the story is told in letters written back and forth; Simon’s are impeccably spelled on personalized stationery while Baxter’s spelling slowly improves through the letters he scrawls on scraps of paper. A few other animals make appearances—a puffy-lipped goldfish who for some reason punctuates her letter with “Blub…blub…” seems to be the only female character (cued through stereotypical use of eyelashes and red lipstick), and a mustachioed snail ferries the mail to and fro. White-appearing Andy is seen playing with both animals as a visual background to the text, as is his friend Noah (a dark-skinned child who perhaps should not be nicknamed “N Man”). Cat lovers will appreciate Simon’s prickliness while dog aficionados will likely enjoy Baxter’s obtuse enthusiasm, and all readers will learn about the time and patience it takes to overcome conflict and jealousy with someone you dislike.
An effective early chapter book conveyed in a slightly overdone gag. (Fiction. 6-8)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4492-2
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so...
A pro bono Twinkie of a book invites readers to fly off in a magic plane to bring clean water to our planet’s oceans, deserts, and brown children.
Following a confusingly phrased suggestion beneath a soft-focus world map to “touch the Earth. Now touch where you live,” a shake of the volume transforms it into a plane with eyes and feathered wings that flies with the press of a flat, gray “button” painted onto the page. Pressing like buttons along the journey releases a gush of fresh water from the ground—and later, illogically, provides a filtration device that changes water “from yucky to clean”—for thirsty groups of smiling, brown-skinned people. At other stops, a tap on the button will “help irrigate the desert,” and touching floating bottles and other debris in the ocean supposedly makes it all disappear so the fish can return. The 20 children Coh places on a globe toward the end are varied of skin tone, but three of the four young saviors she plants in the flier’s cockpit as audience stand-ins are white. The closing poem isn’t so openly parochial, though it seldom rises above vague feel-good sentiments: “Love the Earth, the moon and sun. / All the children can be one.”
“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so easy to clean the place up and give everyone a drink? (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5107-2083-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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