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This month The Edge of the Forest reviews picture books with animal
protagonists. The animals are sometimes touching (Broken Beaks), sometimes wacky (Singing Shijimi Clams),
sometimes crazy (The Extinct Files: My Science Project), but always engaging.
Broken Beaks
by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer. Illustrations by Robert Ingpen
Reviewed by Susan Thomsen, Chicken Spaghetti
In the picture book Broken Beaks, a young sparrow lives with his friends in a city park and lunches on crumbs at a
nearby cafe. Energetic and quick, he finds plenty to eat until one morning he wakes up and his beak is broken. “No ones
knows how or why it happens. It just does,” the author, Nathaniel Lachenmeyer, writes. Because the sparrow can no longer
grab food, he becomes thinner and weaker as the days go by, and the other birds reject him. Finally a homeless man, with “a
bushy beard and long scraggly hair” befriends the bird and helps feed him.
“Looking closely at the stranger, the young sparrow realized that they were alike. He somehow knew that the
stranger also had a broken beak—only his beak was on the inside where you couldn’t see it.”
Happy to have found a companion, the man and the bird team up. The last of Robert Ingpen’s beautiful and somber
illustrations is of the two friends sleeping on a park bench. They are not home, but both are a little less lonely.
Lachenmeyer makes a wise choice to tell the quietly moving story of Broken Beaks from the bird’s point of view—children are
so accustomed to reading picture books about animals. Encouraging empathy, the author and the renowned illustrator (a Hans
Christian Andersen medal winner) raise awareness and explain the reasons for the homeless man’s odd appearance and behavior
without lecturing. Broken Beaks would be an excellent addition to any classroom library, and if I were teaching a unit on
friendship, I’d use it in a heartbeat. As it stands, my son and I have read the book numerous times here at home, and it
has led to some good conversations.
Singing Shijimi Clams
by Naomi Kojima
Reviewed by Kelly Herold, Big A little a
Even witches lose their way sometimes. The hero of Naomi Kojima's Singing Shijimi Clams is one such witch:
"When she was younger she was a mean and feisty witch, and she had liked nothing better than
making fun of people and picking fights. But, now, perhaps because she was older, her sparks
were gone, and she was simply miserable."
On an ordinary, tired day, the witch brings home some Shijimi clams for dinner. She plans on making a miso soup with the
clams and sharing her dinner with her cat, Toraji.
But the clams' snoring disturbs the witch and she feels sorry for them. It's plain old miso for the witch and her cat, a
result the cat disapproves of strongly.
Night after night, the witch can't cook the clams. One day they wake up, crying. The clams don't know where they are and
they miss their home by the sea. By now they've even won Toraji over and the witch and the cat decide to beg for money
to buy train tickets for the clams to return to the sea. But no one is impressed with a bowl of Shijimi clams. Until they
start to sing "with pretty little voices, like tiny popping bubbles," that is.
Who would think Shijimi
clams could be so charming and sweet? The witch didn't expect it, nor did Toraji, nor does the reader. Look more closely,
Singing Shijimi Clams says, and you can find beauty almost anywhere.
Naomi Kojimi's eccentric, charming story is accompanied by simple drawings and just about the cutest clams you've ever
seen.
The Extinct Files: My Science Project
by Wallace Edwards
Reviewed by Kelly Herold, Big A little a
Are you—or do you know—a fan of dinosaurs? What about silly jokes and puns? Yes? Then I have a books for you.
The Extinct Files: My Science Project combines puns, dinosaurs, a school science project, and large, bright
illustrations into a book any dino fan will love. Here's the premise:
"Objective:
I was going to do my science project on my iguana, Spike. But while I was documenting his
behavior, I made a major scientific discovery!
Hypothesis:
People say dinosaurs are extinct. But I can prove that they are ALIVE."
Our narrator describes dinosaur habitats (the "urban jungle," primarily), diet, grooming, and more over the course of his
school report. Each two-page spread has Observations on a given topic and a "taped-in photo" or two. The dinosaurs are
familiar, but often slightly different from the creatures we know. The narrator observes a Gorgeousaurs "(closely related to
Glamorousaurus)," for example.
Our child narrator concludes his report with the following:
"One other thing is for certain: dinosaurs are very shy and guard their privacy fiercely. This
explains why they have kept their culture secret from us. Who would have thought that their
"extinction" was just a big cover-up? It has to be the greatest hoax of all time...Dinos really
ARE clever!"
The Extinct Files: My Science Project has all sorts of great touches—the pages looks as if they're bound
with three pieces of string, the pictures appear taped down onto the page, and there are kid comments penciled in throughout.
The book is oversized and glossy and will be a hit with the five-to nine-year-old dino fan.
Broken Beaks, by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer. Illustrations by Robert Ingpen. Warwick Publishing, 2005.
ISBN: 0-8557-2335-1.
Singing Shijimi Clams, by Naomi Kojima. Kane/Miller, 2006. ISBN: 1-9336-0512-X.
The Extinct Files: My Science Project, by Wallace Edwards. Kids Can Press, 2006. ISBN: 1-5533-7971-3.
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