Dynamic colors and textual versatility make for a quality nonfiction read.
A circular account of a dragonfly’s life span told simultaneously as a narrative and a collection of scientific facts.
The creative duo behind Good Trick, Walking Stick (2016) returns to the insect world. Readers follow the life cycle of a green darner dragonfly, from its mother laying eggs to fertilizing its own before leaving to “find warmer days” elsewhere. The primary text, set in a relatively large font, relates the development of a particular dragonfly in a preschool-friendly manner with simple sentences, sound effects, and a rhythmic refrain—“Oh my, a baby dragonfly!”—that varies the first few syllables with each repetition. Supplementary text is in smaller, multicolored type and gives a factual description of the species, complete with vocabulary definitions and fourth wall–breaking questions to encourage inquisitive thought: “Do you think that the nymph looks like a dragonfly?” Blocks of this text are tucked into the corners of spreads, so younger readers can choose to skim them over while older or inquisitive readers can learn more about the natural world. Unfortunately, there is no informative backmatter to further help them on their way. Lambert places marbled colors à la Eric Carle against a plain, mostly white background. The result is a rich vibrancy that makes the book and its insect protagonist delightfully attractive.
Dynamic colors and textual versatility make for a quality nonfiction read. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: March 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-58536-410-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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
BOOK REVIEW
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