Geography students interested in learning about new locations—or wanting to celebrate places near home—should enjoy this...
A robin gets an insider’s view of Los Angeles in this travelogue and fifth installment of a picture book series.
Although Robin flies to Los Angeles, she doesn’t use her wings but arrives in LAX like most tourists. The amiable bird hits a major event and many of the most famous spots of the well-known city, both entertaining and educational, including the Tournament of Roses Parade, the Griffith Park Observatory, the Hollywood Bowl, Grauman’s Chinese Theater, and Rodeo Drive. But some lesser-known treasures are also included, such as the Third and Fairfax Farmers Market, along with places of natural beauty like the Pacific Palisades and Los Liones Canyon. Barone’s (Where Is Robin? USA, 2017, etc.) selection of locations is excellent. But while her rhyming couplets are clean, they often scan unevenly, making it hard to keep a consistent rhythm. Robin also has a lot of experiences only available to celebrities and fictional characters: she’s able to play in a Kings’ hockey game, conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic, sing at the Hollywood Bowl, and perform jazz at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Debut illustrator Gozhansky does a masterful job of keeping her images consistent with the rest of the series, and her cartoonish depictions of Robin make the discrepancies in the bird’s size from spread to spread seem reasonable. The cast, both animal and human, is as appealingly diverse as the Los Angeles sites.
Geography students interested in learning about new locations—or wanting to celebrate places near home—should enjoy this clever look at LA.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9906310-8-8
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Diplomat Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant.
Robot Roz undertakes an unusual ocean journey to save her adopted island home in this third series entry.
When a poison tide flowing across the ocean threatens their island, Roz works with the resident creatures to ensure that they will have clean water, but the destruction of vegetation and crowding of habitats jeopardize everyone’s survival. Brown’s tale of environmental depredation and turmoil is by turns poignant, graceful, endearing, and inspiring, with his (mostly) gentle robot protagonist at its heart. Though Roz is different from the creatures she lives with or encounters—including her son, Brightbill the goose, and his new mate, Glimmerwing—she makes connections through her versatile communication abilities and her desire to understand and help others. When Roz accidentally discovers that the replacement body given to her by Dr. Molovo is waterproof, she sets out to seek help and discovers the human-engineered source of the toxic tide. Brown’s rich descriptions of undersea landscapes, entertaining conversations between Roz and wild creatures, and concise yet powerful explanations of the effect of the poison tide on the ecology of the island are superb. Simple, spare illustrations offer just enough glimpses of Roz and her surroundings to spark the imagination. The climactic confrontation pits oceangoing mammals, seabirds, fish, and even zooplankton against hardware and technology in a nicely choreographed battle. But it is Roz’s heroism and peacemaking that save the day.
Hugely entertaining, timely, and triumphant. (author’s note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9780316669412
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
The greeting-card art and jokey rhymes work for the baby-shower market but not for the youngest readers.
Animal parents declare their love for their offspring through rhymed puns and sentimental art.
The title sets the scene for what’s to come: The owl asks the owlet as they fly together, “WHOO loves you?”; the kangaroo and joey make each other “very HOPPY”; and the lioness and cub are a “PURRRFECT pair.” Most of the puns are both unimaginative and groanworthy, and they are likely to go over the heads of toddlers, who are not know for their wordplay abilities. The text is set in abcb quatrains split over two double-page spreads. On each spread, one couplet appears on the verso within a lightly decorated border on pastel pages. On the recto, a full-bleed portrait of the animal and baby appears in softly colored and cozy images. Hearts are prominent on every page, floating between the parent and baby as if it is necessary to show the love between each pair. Although these critters are depicted in mistily conceived natural habitats and are unclothed, they are human stand-ins through and through.
The greeting-card art and jokey rhymes work for the baby-shower market but not for the youngest readers. (Board book. 6 mos-2)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7282-1374-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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