Review by Booklist Review
In deliberately formatted verse sets, predator and prey pairs expound upon their skills and abilities and examine their relationships with one another. An opening page explains how, though they live in opposition, predator and prey are often in constant communication with each other; the pages that follow illustrate that communication as animals trick, stalk, and confront one another. The male Big Dipper firefly searches for a mate; his poem is flipped in reverse as the female Pennsylvania firefly tricks him into becoming her dinner. While a spider listens to the web it has made, an assassin bug lays a trap by plucking at the silk threads. The design here is particularly notable: pages fold out to display wide scenes, and many poems are written for two voices, making this an effective tool for read-alouds or readers' theater. Poems are accompanied by scientific notes, though more back matter and additional geographical information would not have been amiss. Still, as a resource that encourages the intersection of science and language arts, this is a welcome, engaging window.--Maggie Reagan Copyright 2019 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In paired poems, Buhrman-Deever explores the perspectives and relationships between specific sets of predator and prey as well as defense mechanisms, including protective coloration and mimicry. The poems, sometimes for two voices (reminiscent of Paul Fleischman's Joyful Noise), are uneven: "I am hungry/ for love. Flashing,/ I seek you"; "Flower nectar, a scent so sweet/ detected from the air." Text boxes explain the relationship between the depicted creatures and bolster the poetry with compelling facts, such as the tactics chickadees use to fend off voracious sharp-shinned hawks or the way one firefly tricks another by mimicking its distinctive flash pattern. Kitchen's realistic watercolor and gouache illustrations, occasionally presented on gatefold spreads, match the verses' directness, adroitly showing these creatures and their environments by rendering fine details such as tangled ribbons of grass, geometrically patterned scales, and the brushy texture of a squirrel's tail. Ages 6-9. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review
Buhrman-Deever imagines the relationships between predators and prey as poetic standoffs. Animal antagonists express their behaviors and needs in a variety of creative poetic formats, sometimes in direct confrontation on a single page, sometimes separated across a double-page spread, and twice portrayed in wordless spreads with gatefolds that open to reveal the poems underneath. A motionless Pacific rattlesnake (I am patient. / I am primed) waits for a chance to strike a chattering ground squirrel (Flag waving, / I boldly scold: / Hey you! Get off my lawn!). A blue jay ponders which of two nearly identical butterflies to consume (One is poison; / one is sweet. / How do I choose / which one to eat?). Content and cadence are cleverly aligned with the actual behaviors of the animals, and the structure and layouts of the poems also echo traits of the creatures: the words in the blue jay poem are spaced apart, and readers must move their heads back and forth to read them, mimicking the jays head movements as it ponders its choice of meal. Illustrations are in soft focus, with stippled green and brown landscapes, though some of the animals are hard to spot within these environs. Appended with an extensive bibliography. danielle j. ford July/Aug p.142(c) Copyright 2019. 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
Predator and prey face off in a battle of poems.The dramatic encounters of predators and their prey, portrayed here in poetry and watercolor-and-gouache illustrations, do not always result in the death of the prey. Sometimes the stalked creatures fight back! Ground squirrels wave their tails, telling rattlesnakes the element of surprise has been lost. Tiger moths jam the big brown bats' echolocation. A female Pennsylvania firefly acts the "femme fatale" when it tricks male big dipper fireflies and eats themdinner instead of love! Such encounters are effectively depicted in verse and art, fine bookmaking complementing both. Nicely paced and rhythmic poetry, usually in the first person, colorfully brings to life each creature's character and modus operandi. "I am patient. / I am primed. / I am coiled muscle, / expertly designed. / I am loaded spring / I am / LIGHTNING!" says the Pacific rattlesnake. The rhythms evoke the march of the ant armies, the "vocal stealth" of chickadees, the boasting of the feisty crested anole lizard: " 'Cuz I'm buff! / And I'm tough! / And you know I've got the stuff!" Text boxes supplement the poems and illustrations with information about the animals, and clever gatefolds in some spreads allow Kitchen's sumptuous illustrations full command by tucking the text inside the folds. An effective presentation of science through poetry, art, and stellar bookmaking. (bibliography) (Informational picture book/poetry. 6-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
