by Peter Raymundo ; illustrated by Peter Raymundo ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 20, 2021
Not just another fish story—will be a favorite with fledgling marine biologists and landlubbers everywhere.
What’s 1 inch long, smells with its ears, and breathes through its butt?
Sea bunnies! Well, they don’t actually breathe through their butts, but their gills are on their rear ends….A gaggle of children is on the hunt for the elusive sea bunny. Their instructor is attempting to curb their loud enthusiasm (but failing at it) while demystifying the mysterious but incredibly cute sea slug known as the sea bunny. It moves along on a trail of self-producing gross slime, has terrible eyesight, and has a nifty secret weapon—poisonous sea sponges! No, it doesn’t fling sopping wet sponges at its enemies, it eats the sponges, which makes it taste disgusting. Ingenious! Raymundo effectively uses large speech bubbles for the kids’ energetic questions and observations, with a smaller, unobtrusive type for the matter-of-fact commentary of their instructor. The interactions among children and adult are humorous, informative, and organic. By using the Q&A format, Raymundo allows the readers to be drawn in and participate in this charming undersea adventure. Raymundo’s experience as a Disney animator can be appreciated in these colorful, engaging illustrations. Who knew a tiny slug could convey so many emotions? The personalities of the characters come through loud and strong—from the endearing and unassuming protagonist to the ravenous villain.
Not just another fish story—will be a favorite with fledgling marine biologists and landlubbers everywhere. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: July 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-32514-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
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by Susannah Buhrman-Deever ; illustrated by Matthew Trueman ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 2020
A simple but effective look at a keystone species.
Sea otters are the key to healthy kelp forests on the Pacific coast of North America.
There have been several recent titles for older readers about the critical role sea otters play in the coastal Pacific ecosystem. This grand, green version presents it to even younger readers and listeners, using a two-level text and vivid illustrations. Biologist Buhrman-Deever opens as if she were telling a fairy tale: “On the Pacific coast of North America, where the ocean meets the shore, there are forests that have no trees.” The treelike forms are kelp, home to numerous creatures. Two spreads show this lush underwater jungle before its king, the sea otter, is introduced. A delicate balance allows this system to flourish, but there was a time that hunting upset this balance. The writer is careful to blame not the Indigenous peoples who had always hunted the area, but “new people.” In smaller print she explains that Russian explorations spurred the development of an international fur trade. Trueman paints the scene, concentrating on an otter family threatened by formidable harpoons from an abstractly rendered person in a small boat, with a sailing ship in the distance. “People do not always understand at first the changes they cause when they take too much.” Sea urchins take over; a page turn reveals a barren landscape. Happily, the story ends well when hunting stops and the otters return…and with them, the kelp forests.
A simple but effective look at a keystone species. (further information, select bibliography, additional resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8934-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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by Susannah Buhrman-Deever ; illustrated by Bert Kitchen
by Susan Lendroth ; illustrated by Bob Kolar ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2020
A common topic ably presented—with a participatory element adding an unusual and brilliant angle.
To the tune of a familiar ditty, budding paleontologists can march, dig, and sift with a crew of dinosaur hunters.
Modeling her narrative after “Here We Go ’Round the Mulberry Bush,” Lendroth (Old Manhattan Has Some Farms, 2014, etc.) invites readers to add appropriate actions and gestures as they follow four scientists—modeled by Kolar as doll-like figures of varied gender and racial presentation, with oversized heads to show off their broad smiles—on a dig. “This is the way we clean the bones, clean the bones, clean the bones. / This is the way we clean the bones on a warm and sunny morning.” The smiling paleontologists find, then carefully excavate, transport, and reassemble the fossil bones of a T. rex into a museum display. A fleshed-out view of the toothy specimen on a wordless spread brings the enterprise to a suitably dramatic climax, and unobtrusive notes in the lower corners capped by a closing overview add digestible quantities of dino-detail and context. As in Jessie Hartland’s How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum (2011), the combination of patterned text and bright cartoon pictures of scientists at accurately portrayed work offers just the ticket to spark or feed an early interest in matters prehistoric.
A common topic ably presented—with a participatory element adding an unusual and brilliant angle. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62354-104-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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by Susan Lendroth ; illustrated by Priscilla Burris
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by Susan Lendroth ; illustrated by Bob Kolar
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by Susan Lendroth ; illustrated by Kate Endle
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