Unusually garish illustrations are the only mark of distinction here.
A broad gander at dinos and other toothy residents of the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods.
Chester opts for melodrama over any attempt at realism, floating on each spread a half-dozen or so prehistoric creatures posed in a limited range of side angles, rendered as flat figures in acidic, high-contrast hues and with mouths agape. Red is a particularly common color, as the violent rending of flesh begins on the title page. Even such herbivores as Triceratops or “gentle plant-eater” Nothronychus sport swathes of harsh vermilion on muzzles and backs. Brusatte, consultant on the miniseries Walking with Dinosaurs, likewise goes for the gusto: “What does Velociraptor do with this scary claw? It uses it first to hold down its victims, and then to slash open their guts.” Repeatedly warning young readers that any momentary distraction or laughing at “strange” features will result in being hunted down and eaten, the author delivers a standard assortment of likely facts and general speculations (without distinguishing between the two) on the habits and especially diets of extinct dinosaurs and reptiles, along with forced value judgements (“Deinocheirus is the weirdest dinosaur you’ve ever seen”), plus references to the supposed dispositions of various creatures and to front extremities as “hands” for an anthropomorphic overlay.
Unusually garish illustrations are the only mark of distinction here. (index, resource list) (Nonfiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-84780-845-5
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sentimental of plotline but informative and breathlessly paced.
The seventh (chronologically earliest) entry in the series pitches a young former slave into the middle of the Civil War’s pivotal battle.
Having saved a Union soldier named Henry Green by hurling a live skunk at his Confederate captors, young Thomas finds himself and his little sister Birdie adopted by Green’s unit. Three weeks, an ambush and a quick march later, Thomas unexpectedly finds himself in the thick of the fighting—possibly on Missionary Ridge itself, though the author doesn’t provide a specific location. Rather than go into details of the battle, Tarshis offers broad overviews of slavery and the war’s course (adding more about the latter in an afterword that includes the text of the Gettysburg Address). She folds these into quick pictures of military camp life and the violence-laced fog of war. Afterward, Thomas and Birdie are reunited with their older cousin Clem, who had been sold away, and make good on a promise to Green (who doesn’t survive) to settle with his Vermont parents and attend the school taught by his sweetheart.
Sentimental of plotline but informative and breathlessly paced. (Q&A, annotated reading list) (Historical fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-545-45936-5
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In cartoon panels, the inimitable Williams offers snapshots of ancient Rome from the mythological creation of the universe to the fall of the empire.
Lightly salting her account with Latin quips (“In theobroma cacao fidemus!”), Williams pens a semiserious narrative history broken up into bite-sized bits on single-topic spreads (“The Gruesome Gauls”). She illustrates them with small cartoon scenes that depict significant incidents or scenes of daily life. Dropping side comments and the occasional Res vera (“fact”) as he goes, a dozy dormouse aptly named Dormeo Augustus squires young readers along. He leads them past the major gods, the tale of Romulus and Remus, Rome’s first seven kings, the Republic, the Caesars and a select few other emperors. There are side excursions to the Forum and a crowded bath, plus glimpses of patrician and plebeian life, slavery, gladiators and the renowned Roman army. Though a certain amount of mayhem makes its way into her account, the author tones down the worst excesses (as Dormeo puts it, the Sabine women were “treated most cruelly”—that’s one way to put it) or acknowledges them only in passing. Not a very detailed picture, but broad enough to leave younger readers with a general sense of how grand the grandeur was. (Informational picture book. 8-10)
Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6581-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2013
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