This curious but intriguing pairing of science fields from the publishers of Darcy Pattison and Kathleen Rietz’s Prairie...
Over the course of a day, predators and prey roar, bellow, trumpet, cry, squeal, purr, and sometimes sneak quietly through the savanna in this introduction to African animals and the science of sounds.
The nicely rounded narrative begins and ends with the lion family. Activities and sounds of wildebeests, elephants, vervet monkeys, baboons, zebras, spiny mice, and yellow-winged bats are described in a simple text. Also pictured and mentioned in the backmatter are a python and a milky eagle owl. The animals are clearly identifiable in the illustrations (produced digitally with watercolor embellishment), which also reveal the progression of the day, from dawn through nightfall, spread by spread. Some double-page spreads feature pictures on pictures, close-up images set over more expansive scenes of this important habitat. Particularly striking are two spreads showing the dramatic escape of a larger-than–life-size spiny mouse from an attacking owl thanks to the mouse’s tearaway “brittle skin.” The variety of sound words used will please teachers, as will the four pages of backmatter, which include additional explanations, hands-on activities, and a predator/prey quiz. A Spanish-language version is also available.
This curious but intriguing pairing of science fields from the publishers of Darcy Pattison and Kathleen Rietz’s Prairie Storms (2011) and Desert Baths (2012) will be equally welcomed in libraries and classroom collections. (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62855-632-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Arbordale Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for...
A gentle voice and familiar pitfalls characterize this tale of a boy navigating the risky road to responsibility.
Gavin is new to his neighborhood and Carver Elementary. He likes his new friend, Richard, and has a typically contentious relationship with his older sister, Danielle. When Gavin’s desire to impress Richard sets off a disastrous chain of events, the boy struggles to evade responsibility for his actions. “After all, it isn’t his fault that Danielle’s snow globe got broken. Sure, he shouldn’t have been in her room—but then, she shouldn’t be keeping candy in her room to tempt him. Anybody would be tempted. Anybody!” opines Gavin once he learns the punishment for his crime. While Gavin has a charming Everyboy quality, and his aversion to Aunt Myrtle’s yapping little dog rings true, little about Gavin distinguishes him from other trouble-prone protagonists. He is, regrettably, forgettable. Coretta Scott King Honor winner English (Francie, 1999) is a teacher whose storytelling usually benefits from her day job. Unfortunately, the pizzazz of classroom chaos is largely absent from this series opener.
This outing lacks the sophistication of such category standards as Clementine; here’s hoping English amps things up for subsequent volumes. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-547-97044-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books.
Curious about the Big Wide World outside his Sasquatch community, Hugo makes a friend who is of it.
Sasquatch Hugo’s bedroom is inside a cave and possesses the charming feature of a small stream running through it that he can sail his little toy boat on. It’s cool, but he yearns to see the Big Wide World. When he asks his smart friend Gigi if a Sasquatch might become a sailor, she says it’s possible but would be difficult—the primary rule of their people is to not be seen by Humans. Then, in everyone’s favorite Hide and Go Sneak class, which is held outside, a Human appears; Hugo laughs at the sight, drawing Human attention in a taboo-breaking mistake. Shortly after, Hugo’s toy boat floats into the cave with a Human toy—soon, it’s facilitating a pen-pal–type relationship that’s derailed when Hugo confesses to being a Sasquatch and Human Boone, a budding cryptozoologist, doesn’t believe him. How Hugo and Boone resolve this misapprehension and become friends in a joint search for the Ogopogo concludes this series opener. Potter keeps the third-person narrative tightly focused on Hugo’s perspective, and the details she uses to flesh out the Sasquatch world are delightfully playful. Sala’s drawings depict a homey Sasquatch cavern community, Boone as a freckled, white boy, and Hugo as a hairily benevolent behemoth.
A charming friendship story and great setup for future books. (final art unseen) (Fantasy. 5-9)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2859-4
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
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