As hardworking as the insect it celebrates.
A chatty, wide-ranging introduction to the honey bee for older preschoolers and younger elementary-age students.
Chakrabarti Basu, who introduces herself as “an Indian scientist who lives and works in the United States,” neatly balances respect for her audience’s curiosity with an understanding of the need to refrain from overloading them with information. “Located at the end of the abdomen, the stinger is a sharp point used for injecting bee venom into enemies. Bees sting when they’re angry or scared,” she writes. (While there is a glossary that concludes the book, it is not comprehensive; adults sharing this book with children may need to help them with words such as venom and, a bit later, superorganism, among others.) In thematically organized spreads and with text broken into neatly digestible chunks, Chakrabarti Basu discusses different honey bee species, beekeeping tools, honey bee anatomy, nests (both wild-built and “human-made”), the different members of a honey bee colony, and more. Weguelin’s bright illustrations are simple and a bit stylized but resist anthropomorphization; they lend themselves well to the book’s occasional diagrams. Children’s shelves are abuzz with bee books, but this efficient offering stands out in its comprehensiveness, unspooling for readers a neat string of cool facts: Honey bees like “dirty water” with lots of minerals in it; they can’t see red, but they do see blue and yellow. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
As hardworking as the insect it celebrates. (index) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 3, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-68449-282-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neon Squid/Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
Another playful imagination-stretcher.
Markle invites children to picture themselves living in the homes of 11 wild animals.
As in previous entries in the series, McWilliam’s illustrations of a diverse cast of young people fancifully imitating wild creatures are paired with close-up photos of each animal in a like natural setting. The left side of one spread includes a photo of a black bear nestling in a cozy winter den, while the right side features an image of a human one cuddled up with a bear. On another spread, opposite a photo of honeybees tending to newly hatched offspring, a human “larva” lounges at ease in a honeycomb cell, game controller in hand, as insect attendants dish up goodies. A child with an eye patch reclines on an orb weaver spider’s web, while another wearing a head scarf constructs a castle in a subterranean chamber with help from mound-building termites. Markle adds simple remarks about each type of den, nest, or burrow and basic facts about its typical residents, then closes with a reassuring reminder to readers that they don’t have to live as animals do, because they will “always live where people live.” A select gallery of traditional homes, from igloo and yurt to mudhif, follows a final view of the young cast waving from a variety of differently styled windows.
Another playful imagination-stretcher. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781339049052
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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