Twelve years later, a return to the ween groods for more vunny ferses.
Runny Babbit and his spooneristic woodland friends are back in 41 new silly, short poems full of nonsense and linguistic play. This volume starts off with the same explanatory poem as Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook (2005): “Way down in the green woods / Where the animals all play, / They do things and say things / In a different sort of way— / Instead of sayin’ ‘purple hat,’ / They all say ‘hurple pat.’ ” Runny “Snoes Gorkeling” and loses his “trimming swunks.” He rides a “coller roaster” at the “founty cair” and loses his lunch. He meets Santa Claus and an evil witch —er, “wevil itch.” He eats soup, celebrates his birthday, and finds a dinosaur egg. Each poem is accompanied by one of Silverstein’s scratchy line drawings, each matching perfectly. In many of the drawings, the denizens of the green woods speak in their own spoonerisms. Though these poems did not make the first collection, which Silverstein had been working on for years before his death, they do not feel second-rate. They echo all that readers loved and all that made them laugh in Uncle Shelby’s work.
Cead with rare and lave a good haugh; there can’t be too many more like these. (Poetry. 6-12)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-247939-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S POETRY
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This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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BOOK REVIEW
In a new entry in the Over and Under series, a paddleboarder glimpses humpback whales leaping, floats over a populous kelp forest, and explores life on a beach and in a tide pool.
In this tale inspired by Messner’s experiences in Monterey Bay in California, a young tan-skinned narrator, along with their light-skinned mom and tan-skinned dad, observes in quiet, lyrical language sights and sounds above and below the sea’s serene surface. Switching perspectives and angles of view and often leaving the family’s red paddleboards just tiny dots bobbing on distant swells, Neal’s broad seascapes depict in precise detail bat stars and anchovies, kelp bass, and sea otters going about their business amid rocky formations and the swaying fronds of kelp…and, further out, graceful moon jellies and—thrillingly—massive whales in open waters beneath gliding pelicans and other shorebirds. After returning to the beach at day’s end to search for shells and to spot anemones and decorator crabs, the child ends with nighttime dreams of stars in the sky meeting stars in the sea. Appended nature notes on kelp and 21 other types of sealife fill in details about patterns and relationships in this rich ecosystem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79720-347-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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