A playful, creative collection of poetry, best suited to experienced young readers.
Hammond offers an upbeat book of poems for children.
The poet explores themes of imagination, adventure, and mischief in this collection, opening with “Once Upon a Babysitter,” a rhyming poem about a child who wreaks havoc on a lenient babysitter, only to get stuck with a curmudgeon caretaker later. In “Where the Stars Fall from the Sky,” a little girl discovers the secret, titular location, observing, “They don’t land with a boom, / they don’t land with a crash, / they land with a quiet poof / in the soft warm grass.” “The Crow Knows” invites readers to “Imagine the finest cupcake, / the tastiest one to your liking,” and how they might reach it (with a little inspiration from the titular bird). The author effectively invites children to indulge their imaginations throughout: What would it be like to have Bigfoot as a best friend, or find a treasure chest in your closet after a pirate visit? The book also ends on an encouraging note: “For if thoughts create things / and things come from thoughts / just think… / of how powerful you are” (“A Thought”). Hammond’s poetry is inventive and lively, and his descriptions are attention-grabbing, as in “Surviving the Lava,” about a boy who wakes up to a bedroom filled with the substance named in the title: “I felt the heat from the hot lava’s glow / from the embers snapping and popping below.” Occasional language seems too simplistic for the intended audience, as in the singsong opener: “Some babysitters are good. / Some babysitters are bad. / Some babysitters don’t care. / Some babysitters get mad.” Many poems span multiple pages, which may be challenging for those with shorter attention spans, especially given the book’s absence of illustrations. However, Hammond’s uncanny ability to turn ordinary moments into outrageous experiences will entice youngsters to keep reading.
A playful, creative collection of poetry, best suited to experienced young readers.Pub Date: June 26, 2023
ISBN: 9798399941073
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer.
Rotner follows up her celebrations of spring and autumn with this look at all things winter.
Beginning with the signs that winter is coming—bare trees, shorter days, colder temperatures—Rotner eases readers into the season. People light fires and sing songs on the solstice, trees and plants stop growing, and shadows grow long. Ice starts to form on bodies of water and windows. When the snow flies, the fun begins—bundle up and then build forts, make snowballs and snowmen (with eyebrows!), sled, ski (nordic is pictured), skate, snowshoe, snowboard, drink hot chocolate. Animals adapt to the cold as well. “Birds grow more feathers” (there’s nothing about fluffing and air insulation) and mammals, more hair. They have to search for food, and Rotner discusses how many make or find shelter, slow down, hibernate, or go underground or underwater to stay warm. One page talks about celebrating holidays with lights and decorations. The photos show a lit menorah, an outdoor deciduous tree covered in huge Christmas bulbs, a girl next to a Chinese dragon head, a boy with lit luminarias, and some fireworks. The final spread shows signs of the season’s shift to spring. Rotner’s photos, as always, are a big draw. The children are a marvelous mix of cultures and races, and all show their clear delight with winter.
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3976-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
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