A lively collection of illustrations of crawling, creeping, and flying creatures offers a look at the versatility of several well-known children’s artists.
As with What’s Your Favorite Animal? (2014) and What’s Your Favorite Color? (2017), Carle here showcases the work of 15 friends whose responses to the title question offer a wonderful range of styles, media, and palettes together with brief stories, poems, and comments. Multicolored dots on the green endpapers suggest caterpillar eggs on a leafy background. Each of the varied selection of arthropods within is presented in a contained but generous two-page spread. The creature selection goes beyond the title’s “favorite bugs” to include millipedes and a couple of spider species. Facts about each are spare or absent, but this is an art book rather than an informational work. Selections vary, including Kenard Pak’s graceful fireflies, Brendan Wenzel’s bright peacock spiders, and Eric Fan’s droll bowler-hatted, briefcase-toting worker bee. Ekua Holmes’ portrait of herself as a brown-skinned young girl observing the busy ants in her ant farm joins Carle’s humanoid butterfly-child on the cover and Carle himself disguised as a large and bearded Very Hungry Caterpillar (both the latter are white). Brief biographies introduce the artists; media and techniques aren’t disclosed.
A terrific prompt and conversation starter for young artists. (Picture book. 2-9)Pub Date: July 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-15175-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Godwin Books/Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Animal behaviors change as they prepare to face the winter.
Migrate, hibernate, or tolerate. With smooth rhymes and jaunty illustrations, Salas and Gévry introduce three strategies animals use for coping with winter cold. The author’s long experience in imparting information to young readers is evident in her selection of familiar animals and in her presentation. Spread by spread she introduces her examples, preparing in fall and surviving in winter. She describes two types of migration: Hummingbirds and monarchs fly, and blue whales travel to the warmth of the south; earthworms burrow deeper into the earth. Without using technical words, she introduces four forms of hibernation—chipmunks nap and snack; bears mainly sleep; Northern wood frogs become an “icy pop,” frozen until spring; and normally solitary garter snakes snuggle together in huge masses. Those who can tolerate the winter still change behavior. Mice store food and travel in tunnels under the snow; moose grow a warmer kind of fur; the red fox dives into the snow to catch small mammals (like those mice); and humans put on warm clothes and play. The animals in the soft pastel illustrations are recognizable, more cuddly than realistic, and quite appealing; their habitats are stylized. The humans represent varied ethnicities. Each page includes two levels of text, and there’s further information in the extensive backmatter. Pair with Joyce Sidman and Rick Allen’s Winter Bees (2014).
A good choice for a late fall storytime. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 3-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5415-2900-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The team of Costain and Lovšin (Daddies are Awesome, 2016) gives moms their due.
Rhyming verses tell of all the ways moms are amazing: “Mommies are magic. / They kiss away troubles… // …find gold in the sunlight / and rainbows in bubbles.” Moms are joyful—the best playmates. They are also fearless and will protect and soothe if you are scared. Clever moms know just what to do when you’re sad, sporty moms run and leap and climb, while tender moms cuddle. “My mommy’s so special. / I tell her each day… // … just how much I love her / in every way!” Whereas dads were illustrated with playful pups and grown-up dogs in the previous book, moms are shown as cats with their kittens in myriad colors, sizes, and breeds. Lovšin’s cats look as though they are smiling at each other in their fun, though several spreads are distractingly cut in half by the gutter. However delightful the presentation—the verse rolls fairly smoothly, and the cats are pretty cute—the overall effect is akin to a cream puff’s: very sweet and insubstantial.
A $16.99 Mother’s Day card for cat lovers. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-62779-651-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY
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