Sure to set butterfly lovers’ hearts aflutter.
Three inquisitive children study butterflies in the wild.
The youngsters notice that each type of butterfly is a different size, with various colors and markings; even their wings are differently shaped. The kids frolic through a meadow, gleefully observing how butterflies drink nectar and carry pollen from flower to flower. In Swiatkowska’s illustrations, the children’s movements cleverly mirror the butterflies’: One kid drinks from a straw as a butterfly uses its long proboscis to suck nectar from an open bloom. The children learn about the butterfly’s life cycle, including its caterpillar larvae beginnings, chrysalis, and final transformation. Readers will pore over the painstakingly detailed artwork, which lovingly nods to art nouveau scientific diagrams. On one spread, individually labeled butterfly eggs are neatly spaced across the page, each one an absolute feast for the eye: some shiny and smooth, others rough or hairy, each a different shape, color, and texture. Brimming with information, Schaefer’s melodic prose lets readers float from beginning to end as if on butterfly wings, landing on engaging backmatter that includes instructions for planting a butterfly garden. One child is pale-skinned and blond-haired; another is brown-skinned with dark curly hair; the third presents East Asian.
Sure to set butterfly lovers’ hearts aflutter. (a butterfly’s life cycle, information about butterfly migration, additional resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9780316337670
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Christy Ottaviano Books
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer.
Rotner follows up her celebrations of spring and autumn with this look at all things winter.
Beginning with the signs that winter is coming—bare trees, shorter days, colder temperatures—Rotner eases readers into the season. People light fires and sing songs on the solstice, trees and plants stop growing, and shadows grow long. Ice starts to form on bodies of water and windows. When the snow flies, the fun begins—bundle up and then build forts, make snowballs and snowmen (with eyebrows!), sled, ski (nordic is pictured), skate, snowshoe, snowboard, drink hot chocolate. Animals adapt to the cold as well. “Birds grow more feathers” (there’s nothing about fluffing and air insulation) and mammals, more hair. They have to search for food, and Rotner discusses how many make or find shelter, slow down, hibernate, or go underground or underwater to stay warm. One page talks about celebrating holidays with lights and decorations. The photos show a lit menorah, an outdoor deciduous tree covered in huge Christmas bulbs, a girl next to a Chinese dragon head, a boy with lit luminarias, and some fireworks. The final spread shows signs of the season’s shift to spring. Rotner’s photos, as always, are a big draw. The children are a marvelous mix of cultures and races, and all show their clear delight with winter.
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3976-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on.
Sharpson offers so-fish-ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas.
The title says it all. Our unseen narrator is just fine with other animals: mammals. Reptiles. Even birds. But fish? Don’t trust them! First off, the rules always seem to change with fish. Some live in fresh water; some reside in salt water. Some have gills, while others have lungs. You can never see what they’re up to, since they hang out underwater, and they’re always eating those poor, innocent crabs. Soon, the narrator introduces readers to Jeff, a vacant-eyed yellow fish—but don’t be fooled! Jeff’s “the craftiest fish of all.” All fish are, apparently, hellbent on world domination, the narrator warns. “DON’T TRUST FISH!” Finally, at the tail end, we get a sly glimpse of our unreliable narrator. Readers needn’t be ichthyologists to appreciate Sharpson’s meticulous comic timing. (“Ships always sink at sea. They never sink on land. Isn’t that strange?”) His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between extreme realism and goofy hilarity. He also fills the book with his own clever gags (such as an image of Gilligan’s Island’s S.S. Minnow going down and a bottle of sauce labeled “Surly Chik’n Srir’racha’r”).
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593616673
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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