Otherwise, distinguished both as natural history and work of art.
Jenkins’ splendid array of beetles will surely produce at least one budding coleopterist.
The colors and patterns of this ubiquitous insect (one out of four creatures on the planet is a beetle, Jenkins tells readers) are fascinating, as are the details about the various adaptations that beetles have made over millennia in response to their environment, diet, and predators. “Perhaps the innovation that has been most helpful to the beetle is its pair of rigid outer wings.” Beautiful book design and a small but clear freehand-style type contribute to readers’ appreciation of the elegant structure and variety of these creatures. Deep, bright hues in the torn-and–cut-paper–collage illustrations set each beetle with its own singular pattern and colors against generous white space. Actual-size silhouettes allow the detailed, larger illustrations to be matched with a realistic appraisal of each beetle’s dimensions. A list of the several dozen featured beetles along with their Latin names and their principal geographic locations appears on a two-page opening at the back. Only a couple of quibbles: The author’s claim that without the dung beetle “the world’s grasslands would soon be buried in animal droppings” begs for a little further explanation; and the absence of a bibliography seems like an oversight.
Otherwise, distinguished both as natural history and work of art. (Nonfiction. 7-12)Pub Date: April 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-547-68084-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Feb. 4, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure.
It’s not truffles but doubloons that tickle this porcine wayfarer’s fancy.
Funke and Meyer make another foray into chapter-book fare after Emma and the Blue Genie (2014). Here, mariner Stout Sam and deckhand Pip eke out a comfortable existence on Butterfly Island ferrying cargo to and fro. Life is good, but it takes an unexpected turn when a barrel washes ashore containing a pig with a skull-and-crossbones pendant around her neck. It soon becomes clear that this little piggy, dubbed Julie, has the ability to sniff out treasure—lots of it—in the sea. The duo is pleased with her skills, but pride goeth before the hog. Stout Sam hands out some baubles to the local children, and his largess attracts the unwanted attention of Barracuda Bill and his nasty minions. Now they’ve pignapped Julie, and it’s up to the intrepid sailors to save the porker and their own bacon. The succinct word count meets the needs of kids looking for early adventure fare. The tale is slight, bouncy, and amusing, though Julie is never the piratical buccaneer the book’s cover seems to suggest. Meanwhile, Meyer’s cheery watercolors are as comfortable diagramming the different parts of a pirate vessel as they are rendering the dread pirate captain himself.
A nifty high-seas caper for chapter-book readers with a love of adventure and a yearning for treasure. (Adventure. 7-9)Pub Date: June 23, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37544-3
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
Unbelievable, improbable, and illogical—but quite delightful.
Joel, Nina, and their mother, Mrs. Popper, are distantly related to the family whose penguins made the town of Stillwater famous years ago.
In nearby Hillport, Mrs. Popper has purchased an abandoned house that had once been a penguin petting zoo. While exploring their new home, the children discover two intact penguin eggs in the basement. They care for the eggs surreptitiously, without telling Mom. Once the eggs hatch, the baby penguins, now named Ernest and Mae, are mischievous and clever, and the secret is soon out. The family decides to bring Ernest and Mae to join the original group of penguins that was relocated to Popper Island in the Arctic—never mind that penguins’ habitat is the Antarctic. They travel by boat, with Yuka, an Inuit doctoral student in zoology, as their guide and leader. Journey highlights include a penguin-caused glitch in the boat’s computer systems, a vicious Arctic storm, and lively interactions with the island-based penguins. Due to a puffin problem they decide to haul all the penguins to Antarctica, their rightful habitat. Schrefer clearly greatly admires the beloved, more-than–80-year-old classic, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, keeping readers informed by referring to its characters and events while adding a modern, eco-friendly viewpoint and lots of fun and laughs. Joel and Nina are sweet, resourceful, and wonderfully kind, as are Mom and Yuka. (Illustrations not seen.)
Unbelievable, improbable, and illogical—but quite delightful. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-316-49542-4
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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