bookshelf

BIG AND LITTLE

Name: BIG AND LITTLE
Author: Steven Jenkins
ISBN: 0-395-72664-6

by Steven Jenkins & illustrated by Steven Jenkins ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1996

bookshelf

Handsome textured cut-paper collages on white paper show animals of the same species that are vastly different in size. Since each pair is created to scale (1'' = 8''), viewers can make comparisons. A preface explains that various animals grew bigger or smaller over time to adapt to their habitats. Subsequent spreads depict pairs from the same species—one big, one little—while a single line of text, curving around the larger animal, introduces them: ``Both the Nile crocodile and the African chameleon live in tropical Africa.'' Most of the pairs do not inhabit the same habitat: Siamese cats and tigers are not found together, nor are fennec foxes and gray wolves. Animals include the hummingbird and ostrich, sea otter and elephant seal, capybara and deer mouse. Final pages show the animals in silhouette to scale, with a paragraph of information on each. The collages show artistic license: The Siamese cat is charcoal- colored, instead of the more common representation of buff with dark ears and tail; the capybara doesn't appear to have webbed feet; the Virginia opossum looks strangely unlike itself. The main problem is that Jenkins (Looking Down, 1995, etc.) is unclear about his audience: The opening paragraph on evolution is difficult for young readers; the rest of the book does not reinforce that paragraph for older readers and will put them off as little more than a naming or comparison game. (bibliography) (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-7)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-395-72664-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1996

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

bookshelf

THE TOAD

From the Disgusting Critters series

by Elise Gravel ; illustrated by Elise Gravel ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 5, 2016

A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor

bookshelf

Having surveyed worms, spiders, flies, and head lice, Gravel continues her Disgusting Critters series with a quick hop through toad fact and fancy.

The facts are briefly presented in a hand-lettered–style typeface frequently interrupted by visually emphatic interjections (“TOXIN,” “PREY,” “EWWW!”). These are, as usual, paired to simply drawn cartoons with comments and punch lines in dialogue balloons. After casting glances at the common South American ancestor of frogs and toads, and at such exotic species as the Emei mustache toad (“Hey ladies!”), Gravel focuses on the common toad, Bufo bufo. Using feminine pronouns throughout, she describes diet and egg-laying, defense mechanisms, “warts,” development from tadpole to adult, and of course how toads shed and eat their skins. Noting that global warming and habitat destruction have rendered some species endangered or extinct, she closes with a plea and, harking back to those South American origins, an image of an outsized toad, arm in arm with a dark-skinned lad (in a track suit), waving goodbye: “Hasta la vista!”

A light dose of natural history, with occasional “EWWW!” for flavor . (Informational picture book. 5-7)

Pub Date: July 5, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-77049-667-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tundra Books

Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
THIS IS MY BRAIN!
by Elise Gravel ; illustrated by Elise Gravel

- BOOK REVIEW
EVERYBODY!
by Elise Gravel ; illustrated by Elise Gravel

- BOOK REVIEW
KILLER UNDERWEAR INVASION!
by Elise Gravel ; illustrated by Elise Gravel

bookshelf

THE LAMB WHO CAME FOR DINNER

by Steve Smallman & illustrated by Joëlle Dreidemy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2007

bookshelf

A sweet iteration of the “Big Bad Wolf Mellows Out” theme. Here, an old wolf does some soul searching and then learns to like vegetable stew after a half-frozen lamb appears on his doorstep, falls asleep in his arms, then wakes to give him a kiss. “I can’t eat a lamb who needs me! I might get heartburn!” he concludes. Clad in striped leggings and a sleeveless pullover decorated with bands of evergreens, the wolf comes across as anything but dangerous, and the lamb looks like a human child in a fleecy overcoat. No dreams are likely to be disturbed by this book, but hardened members of the Oshkosh set might prefer the more credible predators and sense of threat in John Rocco’s Wolf! Wolf! (March 2007) or Delphine Perrot’s Big Bad Wolf and Me (2006). (Picture book. 5-7)