A turn-it-around-and-flip-it-over volume delivers from ends to middle the straight goods on the world’s most popular house pets, a cleanly innovative design allowing interaction between the two parts throughout. Jenkins’s usual striking collages of cut and torn paper create his subjects in all their textures as he describes their prehistoric passages to domesticity and various and sundry facts about our canine and feline friends. The two narratives mirror each other, essentially following the same structure and at times asking the same questions (the answers to “Are dogs smarter than cats?” and “Are cats smarter than dogs?” for instance, hedge their bets diplomatically). Each double-paged spread features one thematic discussion, images arrayed on a clean white background and smaller sidebars providing additional information. Nothing new here, but the addition of icons at the bottom of each spread shows the other animal and gives one small, related fact, adding an element of interactivity that both teases and pleases. Sure to see plenty of use. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-10)
Pub Date: May 14, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-618-50767-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
The creepy-crawly close-up photo of a hairy spider on the cover will have kids (and adults) saying “Yuck!” while they grab the book to look for more inside. As with other Simon photographic nonfiction, this presents information on spiders in easy, understandable prose. The facts are made relative—for example, “jumping spiders can leap a distance of 40 times the length of its own body, the same as if you jumped the length of two basketball courts and made a slam dunk.” Examples interestingly describe the facts, e.g., “some spider silk is three times stronger than steel wire of the same thickness.” This is casual nonfiction, no chapters, categories, or index, but the amazing close-up color photos make the almost conversational text captivating. A subject that both fascinates and repels at the same time, this mini-documentary will have kids spinning their own stories about the spiders they’ve now discovered. (Nonfiction. 6-10)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-06-028391-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2003
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