Both a rewarding animal rescue story and a poignant tale of human collaboration.
An extensive network of caring, careful volunteers work together to save stranded sea turtles.
“One morning when winter winds blow, and the water runs from cold to colder,” a lost turtle washes up on shore, “hardly moving. Barely breathing.” A family of three are the first to discover the distressed chelonian, covering it with seaweed and blanket while awaiting trained rescuers. “Turtles have been tending the ocean for millions of years,” and now humans must tend the turtles. The turtle is measured and photographed, treated for pneumonia and a cracked shell, and nurtured until it’s “finally healthy and strong.” A pilot flies the recovered creature to warmer waters, where a crowd gathers to cheer its return home. Becker cleverly presents every segment of the turtle’s journey in first person from the perspective of a different rescuer, recognizing the agency of each of the participants. She affectingly matches human actions—caring, protecting, sustaining—with the same ways turtles have contributed to earth-and-sea balance. “It takes a lot of people to save one turtle,” Becker states in her author’s note, applauding the hundreds of volunteers worldwide who, despite differences, can “all agree that they care about sea turtles.” Lane’s soft watercolor spreads shimmer and glow, emitting a communal energy shared by a diverse cast of characters. Extensive backmatter encourages further learning, even involvement.
Both a rewarding animal rescue story and a poignant tale of human collaboration. (map, author's note, more about turtles, further reading and exploration, additional resources) (Informational picture book. 4-10)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781779460127
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on.
Sharpson offers so-fish-ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas.
The title says it all. Our unseen narrator is just fine with other animals: mammals. Reptiles. Even birds. But fish? Don’t trust them! First off, the rules always seem to change with fish. Some live in fresh water; some reside in salt water. Some have gills, while others have lungs. You can never see what they’re up to, since they hang out underwater, and they’re always eating those poor, innocent crabs. Soon, the narrator introduces readers to Jeff, a vacant-eyed yellow fish—but don’t be fooled! Jeff’s “the craftiest fish of all.” All fish are, apparently, hellbent on world domination, the narrator warns. “DON’T TRUST FISH!” Finally, at the tail end, we get a sly glimpse of our unreliable narrator. Readers needn’t be ichthyologists to appreciate Sharpson’s meticulous comic timing. (“Ships always sink at sea. They never sink on land. Isn’t that strange?”) His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between extreme realism and goofy hilarity. He also fills the book with his own clever gags (such as an image of Gilligan’s Island’s S.S. Minnow going down and a bottle of sauce labeled “Surly Chik’n Srir’racha’r”).
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593616673
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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