Lush illustrations and disguised flaps make this one worthwhile.
A fact-filled, lift-the-flap discovery of animals living in the rainforest.
The book begins in the morning, with a look at the rainforest canopy, the illustration a twist of vines, wide leaves, and branches. There are animals readily visible, with many more below the camouflaged flaps, which are cut to match the rough outlines of flora and fauna. Each page turn moves readers through the day and a different part of the rainforest, ending with nighttime. Readers will enjoy hunting for the shaped flaps and discovering the mystery of what is hiding beneath. The undersides of all of the flaps reveal facts that range from brief and obvious—“Toucans have large, colorful beaks”—to lengthier and more interesting observations, such as information about how long manatees can hold their breath and when they surface. The illustrations are very detailed, complete with miniature markings on fish, snakes, and jaguar spots, suiting this to the older edge of the audience. The only drawback is that some animals are so small their impact is lost, as with the piranhas and their “razor-sharp teeth” which are difficult to discern on the colorful fish. Only the animals below the flaps are identified, a missed opportunity to label all that appear for readers’ benefit. Companion title Who’s Hiding on the Savanna? follows the same morning-to-nighttime format to introduce animals of the African savanna.
Lush illustrations and disguised flaps make this one worthwhile. (Board book. 3-5)Pub Date: May 12, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1010-1
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
A book about engineering notable mostly for its illustrations of diverse characters. (Board book. 1-3)
Babies and engineers have more in common than you think.
In this book, Alexander highlights the unlikely similarities between babies and engineers. Like engineers, babies ask questions, enjoy building, and learn from their mistakes. Black’s bold, colorful illustrations feature diverse babies and both male- and female-presenting adult characters with a variety of skin tones and hair colors, effectively demonstrating that engineers can be any race or either gender. (Nonbinary models are a little harder to see.) The story ends with a reassurance to the babies in the book that “We believe in you!” presumably implying that any child can be an engineer. The end pages include facts about different kinds of engineers and the basic process used by all engineers in their work. Although the book opens with a rhythmic rhyming couplet, the remaining text lacks the same structure and pattern, making it less entertaining to read. Furthermore, while some of the comparisons between babies and engineers are both clever and apt, others—such as the idea that babies know where to look for answers—are flimsier. The book ends with a text-heavy spread of facts about engineering that, bereft of illustrations, may not hold children’s attention as well as the previous pages. Despite these flaws, on its best pages, the book is visually stimulating, witty, and thoughtful.
A book about engineering notable mostly for its illustrations of diverse characters. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-31223-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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