Monkeys and Foxes and Brilliance, Oh, My!

Several of my recent nonfiction reviews here have focused on biographies or other profile-style narratives. Our CYBILS AWARDS nominees include many of these, but also books about science, technology, enginerering, math (STEM) and art (STEAM!). Check out some of these HERE, HERE, and HERE, with more to come in the next week or two. 

First, though, these two nominees explore facts about animals in brilliant ways. Everyone loves animals, right? It doesn't take much to catch a young reader's attention if the subject is an animal, right? On some level, perhaps that is true. 

And yet...

Some explorations are masterpieces, as are these.

Beach Lane Books, 2021

Melissa Stewart is the author of FOURTEEN MONKEYS: A RAIN FOREST RHYME. Stewart has justifiably achieved fame and status among writing, science, and literary types for her superb webinars, essays on nonfiction writing, and countless other platforms from which she guides and elevates the quality of nonfiction literature for young readers. I appreciate and follow those efforts, but I found her first through her picture books while working with kids. Her website offers a full array of the many titles, categories, and styles of her publications, as well as providing resources for readers, teachers, and writers. 

In this instance, her work is illustrated by Steve Jenkins, who is equally renowned for his picture books featuring animals of every type and in every conceivable relationship to the text. A quick click on either creator's name will take you to images of books that you recognize immediately as kid favorites. 

This latest is an outstanding example of the talents and expertise with which both are able to investigate unique aspects of seemingly ordinary topics in extraordinary ways. They each combine elements in their presentations that offer appeal and information across ages and levels of education so kids of many ages and their grown-ups (also of many ages) share in the awe and discovery of a specific strand of Earth's remarkable web of life. 

Stewart's successful approach involves parallel text: Simple rhymed lines in large font on white space pair with short passages of detailed explanatory text for older audiences. The structure of the text provides a conceptual frame passing from morning to night, layering potential for this as a bedtime book. All the while it is expanding vocabulary, lyrical language, and specific information about the fourteen monkey species that manage to find suitable habitat in a single  rainforest habitat, the Manu National Park in Peru. Somehow that small patch of resources and climate provides suitable living for the needs of distinctly different body types, food and space needs, and behavioral adaptations. 

Vibrant and dramatic illustrations by Jenkins incorporate vast amounts of information about the physical and behavioral features of each species and habitat, while offering a small inset of a rainforest tree silhouette that marks the layer and niche within it that is home to that particular species. The creatures are expressive and active on the page without losing any degree of their natural appearance or patterns. The leafy, textured realm is sometimes referenced in text but is informative on its own, depicting distinctive leaves, vines, branches and trunks that are unique to  our invaluable rainforests. 

Back matter is a treasure trove of appealing and expansive content, with a double spread compilation of the fourteen monkey species within the layers of a single/sample tree, followed by spotlight profiles of each, sources, further readings, and scaled-size comparisons. This is not the first time Stewart and Jenkins teamed up to make an outstanding nonfiction picture book, but this may just be my favorite among their many beloved titles.

Running Press Kids, 2021

HOW TO FIND A FOX is written by Kate Gardner and photographed by Ossi Saarinen. In this case, I was unfamiliar with either the author or the photographer, but oh, am I a fan of foxes. I learned that the photographer's nature images were the start of this story, and i can see why they inspired. The fact that such elusive, even skittish wild critters could be captured in these intense, spontaneous, and natural poses invites celebration and elaboration in text. 

The author, like Stewart, provides parallel text, combining several short lines that speak simply and directly to readers, indicating how they, too, just might find a fox. Then a short passage of small font text appears, unobtrusively, to provide more detailed understanding of the ways of foxes. Facts are reflected within the context of the photographic images, and that makes every bit of information cling in our thoughts, almost as if tied to a personal memory.

Both books are enchanting, intriguing, and worthy of everyone's attention. I hope you'll agree and share them widely.