by Sandra Markle & illustrated by Layne Johnson ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2011
Terrific for young horse lovers. (Picture book. 5-9)
On Sable Island, off the Nova Scotia coast, a young stallion finds a home and his own band of wild horses, surviving in spite of winter storms and even hurricanes.
Unlike the horses on Assateague and other U.S. barrier islands, the Sable Island herd of 300 has been left completely wild, protected by the Canadian government since 1960. Markle here introduces them to young readers with an imagined story. Purposely dropped off from a schooner, perhaps in the mid-1700s, the young horse, possibly bred for racing, spends his first year with a group of “bachelors,” learning to eat the sand- and ice-crusted marsh grass and to find water in frozen holes. Come spring, he finds a band of mares and takes over as leader, fending off a challenger and surviving a monster storm by taking his band to shelter between the dunes. This simple narrative has been illustrated with glowing oil paintings on double-page spreads. Every scene will delight. The animals are shown in a variety of postures and activities: rearing to challenge gray seals or each other, knee deep in a marsh full of flowers, in fog and snow, galloping free, running from a storm and facing the sunset. Children perplexed by the unexplained abandonment of the horse will find some clarification in the author’s note; lists of books and websites complete the package.
Terrific for young horse lovers. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8027-9766-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
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by Sandra Markle ; illustrated by Vanessa Morales
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by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2010
Hee haw.
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The print version of a knee-slapping cumulative ditty.
In the song, Smith meets a donkey on the road. It is three-legged, and so a “wonky donkey” that, on further examination, has but one eye and so is a “winky wonky donkey” with a taste for country music and therefore a “honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” and so on to a final characterization as a “spunky hanky-panky cranky stinky-dinky lanky honky-tonky winky wonky donkey.” A free musical recording (of this version, anyway—the author’s website hints at an adults-only version of the song) is available from the publisher and elsewhere online. Even though the book has no included soundtrack, the sly, high-spirited, eye patch–sporting donkey that grins, winks, farts, and clumps its way through the song on a prosthetic metal hoof in Cowley’s informal watercolors supplies comical visual flourishes for the silly wordplay. Look for ready guffaws from young audiences, whether read or sung, though those attuned to disability stereotypes may find themselves wincing instead or as well.
Hee haw. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-545-26124-1
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2018
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by Craig Smith ; illustrated by Katz Cowley
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by Doug MacLeod ; illustrated by Craig Smith
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by Adam Osterweil and illustrated by Craig Smith
by Sandra Markle & illustrated by Howard McWilliam ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2013
Irresistible.
What if an animal’s teeth grew into the space where you lost your two front teeth?
Markle chews on this interesting question in this compelling combination of imagination and fact. Spread by double-page spread, she introduces animals with unusual choppers, from the beaver’s iron-coated orange incisors to the camel’s worn-out stubs, and explains what they’re used for. Or, in the case of the narwhal’s single tusk, points out that scientists don’t yet know. On the left-hand side of each spread, photographs of the animals emphasize their teeth. On the right, a human child is portrayed with that animal’s teeth. These film-animation–style illustrations reinforce the fantasy aspect and feature a diverse range of children. A black-haired boy in flip-flops lifts a car with his elephant tusks. A girl in a wheelchair picks up soup noodles with her flexible, naked-mole-rat front teeth. The text is presented in small chunks—a paragraph of description and a toothy fact on one page facing a paragraph about what you could do with such teeth. The reading will be a challenge for the intended audience, but the subject so compelling they won't be able to resist. A backpack-wearing boy with dark-framed glasses and dripping fangs greets a rattlesnake on the cover.
Irresistible. (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-48438-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2013
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