A fascinating introduction to an amazing insect.
Bright collages dominated by rainforest greens depict an insect community of “eight million sisters working together.”
It begins, as all leafcutter ant nests do, with a single queen. The nest she establishes appears in cross-section as a sprawling network of round chambers connected by straight, crisscrossing tunnels. Within, red ants scurry about, performing the essential duties any large community requires of its citizens: They are “builders and soldiers, caretakers and cleaners, farmers and pharmacists, and foragers.” Hevron doesn’t attempt realistic depictions but neither does she anthropomorphize her subjects, instead gesturing at the physical differences within the community by showing their varying sizes. Her inspired text uses appropriate vocabulary, informing readers of the antibiotics the pharmacist ants produce, the pheromone the worker ants emit when threatened, and the mandibles the forager ants use to harvest bits of leaves. The pacing and structure are impeccable, while the information is deftly conveyed. Listeners learn early on of the fungus that the queen brings from her birth nest (“an essential ingredient for the new city’s survival”); after exploring the bustle of the city, the text returns to the fungus, informing little ones that “the garden that started from [it] now feeds the entire city of eight million.” Two pages of further information will help adults answer any questions the text might elicit.
A fascinating introduction to an amazing insect. (bibliography, further reading, author’s note) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: June 25, 2024
ISBN: 9780823453184
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: yesterday
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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