A visually stirring guide to empathizing with the natural world.
Led by their teacher, budding birders imagine their lives as veeries.
When Ms. Lee turns off the lights and starts playing rainforest sounds, her students know it’s time to fly into their imaginations. In vibrantly hued scenes, honey-colored veeries—“Sort of like robins but smaller”—flit over the dark shadowy blue of the classroom. Ms. Lee sets the scene, describing the birds’ eating and migration habits. Bright, saturated images of the birds contrast with faded depictions of the schoolchildren. In one spread, the young, Black-presenting narrator holds out an arm, which becomes a multicolored wing. As the students follow the veeries’ migration from Brazil to the United States and Canada, they learn that deforestation, dogs, and lit windows all pose dangers. The children draw parallels between themselves and the birds. Just as veeries fall prey to raptors, kids are vulnerable to bullies. One youngster begins wondering about a relative’s immigrant journey—was it as perilous as a veerie’s travels? Matter-of-fact text pairs well with dreamy illustrations that illuminate the students’ thoughts as effectively as the “bird river” they’re imagining. In the final spread, the narrator comes face to face with a real bird, and the two share a curious moment: “I think it knows I’m a veery, too.” Ms. Lee presents Asian; her students are diverse.
A visually stirring guide to empathizing with the natural world. (further reading, facts about birds) (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781949480436
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Cameron Kids
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
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
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with...
Reynolds and Brown have crafted a Halloween tale that balances a really spooky premise with the hilarity that accompanies any mention of underwear.
Jasper Rabbit needs new underwear. Plain White satisfies him until he spies them: “Creepy underwear! So creepy! So comfy! They were glorious.” The underwear of his dreams is a pair of radioactive-green briefs with a Frankenstein face on the front, the green color standing out all the more due to Brown’s choice to do the entire book in grayscale save for the underwear’s glowing green…and glow they do, as Jasper soon discovers. Despite his “I’m a big rabbit” assertion, that glow creeps him out, so he stuffs them in the hamper and dons Plain White. In the morning, though, he’s wearing green! He goes to increasing lengths to get rid of the glowing menace, but they don’t stay gone. It’s only when Jasper finally admits to himself that maybe he’s not such a big rabbit after all that he thinks of a clever solution to his fear of the dark. Brown’s illustrations keep the backgrounds and details simple so readers focus on Jasper’s every emotion, writ large on his expressive face. And careful observers will note that the underwear’s expression also changes, adding a bit more creep to the tale.
Perfect for those looking for a scary Halloween tale that won’t leave them with more fears than they started with. Pair with Dr. Seuss’ tale of animate, empty pants. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4424-0298-0
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
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