by Stephen R. Swinburne ; illustrated by Geraldo Valério ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 22, 2023
Weak on the math but should interest a number of wild animal lovers.
Giraffes by the numbers.
“Giraffe numbers are everywhere,” coos twiggy Twiga, giraffe narrator, who goes on to lay out typical measurements for their bodies and select parts, from ossicones atop their heads (“They can reach a length of over 10 inches. If you’re seven or eight years old, that is almost the length of your arm”) to pizza-pie–sized hooves. Along with other number-based nuggets like speed, she names the four giraffe species (reticulated, Masai, southern, and northern)—distinguishable in Valério’s paint and paper collage scenes by their patterns of spots—and mentions predators, diet, social behavior, and other basic non-numerate facts. The “math” is more notional than exact as, for instance, schematic lines show how the stiff-legged postures of drinking giraffes form equilateral or isosceles triangles, but the difference between the two is not explained. Also, a reference to “percentages” at the end may be confusing, since neither the word nor the symbol is used elsewhere. Invitations to compare measurements with those of other animals remain an abstract exercise, as the accompanying illustrations are not consistently to scale. The backmatter includes a range map and a note on the giraffe life cycle. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Weak on the math but should interest a number of wild animal lovers. (glossary, quiz, metric conversion chart, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2023
ISBN: 9780316346771
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
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by Kari Lavelle ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2023
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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by Kari Lavelle ; illustrated by Nabi H. Ali
by Nick Seluk ; illustrated by Nick Seluk ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2019
A good overview of this complex, essential organ, with an energetic seasoning of silliness.
An introduction to the lead guitar and vocalist for the Brainiacs—the human brain.
The brain (familiar to readers of Seluk’s “The Awkward Yeti” webcomic, which spun off the adult title Heart and Brain, 2015) looks like a dodgeball with arms and legs—pinkish, sturdy, and roundish, with a pair of square-framed spectacles bestowing an air of importance and hipness. Other organs of the body—tongue, lungs, stomach, muscle, and heart—are featured as members of the brain’s rock band (the verso of the dust jacket is a poster of the band). Seluk’s breezy, conversational prose and brightly colored, boldly outlined cartoon illustrations deliver basic information. The brain’s role in keeping the heart beating and other automatic functions, directing body movements, interpreting sights and sounds, remembering smells and tastes, and regulating sleep and hunger are all explained, prose augmented by dialogue balloons and information sidebars. Seluk points out, importantly, that feelings originate in the brain: “You can control how you react…but your feelings happen no matter what.” The parodied album covers on the front endpapers (including the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Green Day, Run DMC, Queen, Nirvana) will amuse parents—or at least grandparents—and the rear endpapers serve up band members’ clever social media and texting screenshots. Backmatter includes a glossary and further brain trivia but no resources or bibliography.
A good overview of this complex, essential organ, with an energetic seasoning of silliness. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-16700-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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