Both amusing and instructive, with broad appeal and excellent illustrations.
Collected limericks for children ages 8 to 12 humorously present factual tidbits from science and history with comic-book–style illustrations.
In his debut book, Hoyman combines two forms that kids love—limericks and comic books—to offer one-page lessons on various subjects. Five panels, one for each line of the limerick (sometimes with additional comments from characters in word balloons), are followed by a sixth with more information. The opening limerick, for example, concerns jesters: “The jester was called by the King, / To tell a few riddles and sing. / Instead of his shtick, / He “pigeoned” in sick, / And was exiled up north of Peking.” The jester can be seen telling the beginning of a joke (“Did you hear the one about the bubonic plague?”), juggling, sending a messenger pigeon to the king while enjoying a day off fishing, and finally being tossed over the Great Wall of China. The sixth panel explains how jesters entertained kings and noblemen and what “exile” means. Other topics, in no particular order, include animals, such as anglerfish and chimpanzees; history and culture, such as the Pony Express, lamplighters, and clowns; and inventions, such as concrete. A glossary is included. Hoyman’s limericks generally scan and rhyme well, and background information is always interesting. One entry, based on what may be a true story, introduces readers to Sadie “the Goat” Farrell, a Hudson River pirate known for head-butting people. She lost her left ear—bitten off, as the sixth panel explains, by Gallus Mag, a New York City tavern bouncer. Some limericks are gross, a few didactic, and many straightforwardly informational. No sources are provided for these facts, but they seem sound; “caveman,” however, is an obsolete term. Feldman (Noah Learns To Share, 2017, etc.) varies his panels in size and distance (wide, medium, and close-up shots), giving them depth with good shadowing and a rich palette. His human figures are diverse and somewhat stylized but show expression well.
Both amusing and instructive, with broad appeal and excellent illustrations.Pub Date: March 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73281-860-6
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The charming story of a brave child’s decision to make her life better.
An exuberant, cotton-candy pink introduction to hearing loss and cochlear implants for ages 5 and up.
Little Almigal’s hearing loss doesn’t get much better with hearing aids. While Ali’s friend Penelope, whose hearing aids work for her, uses both her voice and signs to communicate, Almigal only knows a word or two of sign language, so she’s frustrated at missing out on the sounds in her world. She declares that she needs “to hear every single sound in the whole entire universe!”—especially her parents saying “We love you Almigal” when she’s in bed and not wearing her hearing aids. Her doctor suggests cochlear implants to improve her hearing, and Almigal is all for it. The book gently covers Almigal’s trip to the hospital for the operation and the importance of handling the implants carefully, as displayed in episodes where Almigal fails to treat the implants properly, thus learning how important that care can be. The implants successfully help Almigal hear all the things she’d been missing. Although the story skips the controversy surrounding cochlear implants and their place in the deaf community, the cheerful inclusiveness will be a welcome introduction for children. Kupfer—whose own daughter, Ali, was diagnosed with profound hearing loss at 10 months of age—celebrates uniqueness, while the delightful, full-page illustrations show the lively heroine and her friends and family enjoying their differences. Almigal considers herself to be the luckiest girl in the world. “Do you want to know why?” she asks. “Because I have so many friends and each one is different.”
The charming story of a brave child’s decision to make her life better.Pub Date: April 16, 2012
ISBN: 978-0983829409
Page Count: 32
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sci-fi novel that soars along with a teenage heroine whose imperfections help make her believable and endearing.
A 17-year-old pilot with a history of crashing her craft holds a planet’s fate in her hands when a human settlement on Mars runs low on food.
Flight-obsessed Jessamyn Jaarda faces the biggest mission of her life in the fourth YA sci-fi novel from Swanson (Unfurl, 2012, etc.). Fired from pilot training for crashing one craft and praised for doing the same to another, Jess inspires unpredictable reactions in people. Maybe that’s because Jess lives, as she flies, by pure instinct, and no one knows whether that trait will enable her to save her planet when, because of potential starvation for a human settlement on Mars, she must fly to Earth on a food raid. Along with her brother, however, the red-haired teenager has the courage to attempt the mission and stick with it when it goes terribly wrong. Swanson paces this story beautifully, weaving exposition tightly into the plot as disaster interrupts everyday routines. Despite the strangeness of the Martian environment, the novel quickly establishes the humanity of Jess and other characters, as when Jess tries and fails to help her brother resist a bout of claustrophobia or when she first locks eyes with her planet’s only dog and feels something sweep through her: “A something that reminded her of taking her craft toward breaking day or of watching Phobos as the swift moon zipped across the night sky. The dog was...wondrous.” At first, Jess sees everything through the lens of her obsession with flight, but she becomes far too multifaceted, distractible and passionate to be mistaken for an archetype. Watching her grow and struggle to survive makes this book hard to put down.
A sci-fi novel that soars along with a teenage heroine whose imperfections help make her believable and endearing.Pub Date: July 26, 2012
ISBN: 978-0983562160
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Williams Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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