A sweet book marred by its Spanish translation.
This bilingual (English/Spanish) book showcases different baby mammals all sharing one common trait: They are all nursing from their mothers.
In rhyming English text accompanied by its Spanish counterpart, readers are introduced to 13 different nursing mammals. The illustrations are done in watercolor, the inherent gentleness and warmth of the media making it an ideal complement to the text. Each animal—horse, tiger, monkey, seal, zebra, dog, panda, bat, polar bear, cat, deer, dolphin, and human—is depicted in the act of nursing, the text reinforcing this fact: “Seal pup nurses / on the beach, / mama stays / within her reach. // La foca en la playa / está vigilando, / mientras que su cría / se está alimentando.” Older children will enjoy the extra information that can be found about each animal at the end of the book. Unfortunately, while the Spanish in the rhyming text portion of the book is correct, the Spanish in the endmatter is full of mistakes. For example, while the English text states that tigers must “crawl backwards” when climbing out of a tree, the Spanish translation states they do this on their backs (“arrastrarse de espaldas”), thus conveying completely different information. Any book that presents facts in multiple languages must ensure that they are correct across the board.
A sweet book marred by its Spanish translation. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-930775-73-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Platypus Media
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
An ideal lead-in to more specific guides to aquarium setup and fish care.
A first introduction to our planet’s finny residents, particularly the decidedly uncommon goldfish.
Preceded by an entire piscatorial ABC that extends over six pages, two children of color lecture an audience of house pets (and readers) about such typical fishy features as scales and gills—properly noting that some fish, like certain eels, have no scales and some, like hagfish, no bony spines. The two then zero in on goldfish, explaining that they are easier to keep at home than tropical fish, originated long ago in China, can recognize the faces of people who bring them food, and with proper care live 25 years. All of this information is presented in a mix of dialogue balloons and single lines of commentary in block letters, accompanying cleanly drawn cartoon illustrations that alternate between a domestic setting and labeled portraits of various fish rendered in fine, exact detail. With easily digestible doses of biological and historical background, common-sense cautionary notes, and a buoyant tone, this is an appealing dive for newly independent readers out to enhance the household menagerie.
An ideal lead-in to more specific guides to aquarium setup and fish care. (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943145-15-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: TOON Books & Graphics
Review Posted Online: Feb. 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2017
A bland also-ran trailing a large litter of like-themed pups.
A photo album of young wolves running, playing, and growing through their first year.
Light on factual details, the uncredited text largely runs to vague observations along the lines of the fact that “young wolves need to rest every now and then” or that packs “differ in size. Some are large and have many wolves, while others are small with only a few.” The chief draws here are the big, color, stock photos, which show pups of diverse ages and species, singly or in groups—running, posing alertly with parents or other adult wolves, eating (regurgitated food only, and that not visible), howling, patrolling, and snoozing as a seasonal round turns green meadows to snowy landscapes. In a notably perfunctory insertion squeezed onto the final spread, a wildlife biologist from the American Museum of Natural History introduces himself and describes his research work—all with animals other than wolves. Budding naturalists should have no trouble running down more nourishing fare, from Seymour Simon’s Wolves (1993) to Jonathan London’s Seasons of Little Wolf (illustrated by Jon Van Zyle, 2014) and on. Baby Dolphin’s First Swim follows the same formula even down to profiling exactly the same wildlife biologist.
A bland also-ran trailing a large litter of like-themed pups. (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4549-2237-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sterling
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2017
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