Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3--Ruddock (Last Hummingbird West of Chile and other novels for adults) presents 15 poems about encounters between humans and animals that trace a subtle route through spring, summer, and fall, then wrap up with a winter poem about all of the animals. From snake to ant to bear to moose, every animal is treated with kindness and respect. Racially diverse characters not mentioned in the poems are the presumed narrators, but the poems ring true enough to believe they are based on the author's own experiences. While the poems feature bits of narrative that will keep a contemporary audience engaged, the structure and rhyming patterns feel very much like contemporaries of Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses. For example, in the poem about the heron: "Canoeing on this quiet coast/ we see them rise blue-gray as ghosts/ but never do they travel far/ around the next point, there they are!" Barron's illustrations are vibrant, contemporary cut-paper collages of fairly realistic people and animals with abundant, nearly tactile texture and detail to keep young readers perusing the pages. VERDICT A solid purchase for collections with animal-loving or poetry-loving readers.--Hillary Perelyubskiy
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Review by Horn Book Review
A racoon is panic-stricken after taking a spill down a chimney. During a nighttime car ride, a family is startled when a moose sallies out onto the road. A chipmunk is brought to bay in a rainspout by its feline predator. In the fifteen short narrative poems in this picture book, racially diverse children and their caregivers unexpectedly come face to face with undomesticated critters, some imperiled, and choose to show them kindness and respect. A closing poem observes each animal's whereabouts following their human encounters. Ruddock's evocative rhyming verses and Barron's textured cut-paper-collage illustrations convey both the vulnerability and power of wild creatures. Readers will warm to the wisdom of giving wildlife their space. An eloquent exemplum of animal ethics that avoids preachiness. (c) Copyright 2024. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A seasonal cycle of poems examines the gentle confrontations that result when human-built environments share space with animal habitats. Ruddock composes most poems as two or three quatrains with an ABCB rhyme scheme. While Barron's lively cut-paper collages depict racially diverse children as the presumed narrators of the animal interactions, the balladlike stanzas, peppered with old-fashioned phrasing, belie the authorial voice of a ruminating adult. After the titular snake is nearly stepped on, "we trapped her in a coffee cup, / a playing card to seal, / and moved her to the nearby woods, / no longer under heel." In "Bear," a child avers, "One morning I set out upon / a quarter-mile jog, / when suddenly a lumbering bear / clambered from the bog." The child "wisely" turns around and walks away; upon safely looking back, the child sees the creature "snuffling at blueberries"--she "cared not a bit for me." Several poems visit interactions that will be familiar to many: picnic ants, a skunk on the porch, a squirrel intent on a pet dog's kibble. Other entries focus on a fleeting twilight encounter between a moose and a family in a car and herons observed from a canoe. Barron supplies a bright abundance of supporting plants and animals for the poems' spring-to-winter arc. Ruddock sticks a nice landing with "Winter," citing each foregoing animal's current status--including, "curled in a nest of moss / …our tiny fragile snake." Quaint poems, charmingly illustrated. (Picture book/poetry. 3-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
