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Desmond, Jenni
5 Reviews
(1)
K-3
A brown-skinned boy in a red crown shown reading the very book youngsters are holding lets his imagination take him into the narrative as he joins a pachyderm caravan and discovers facts about elephants in expository text. The mixed-media illustrations are both informative and beautifully executed, with varied motifs and an overall design that imparts complicated facts through clear and clean layouts.
Reviewer: Betty Carter
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
January, 2019
(3)
K-3
When bear Albert's favorite tree starts crying loudly, other woodland animals try without success to help him cheer it up. Finally, Albert hugs the tree and discovers who's really crying: an owl who's afraid of a "big hairy monster," i.e., Albert. Having cleared up their comical misunderstanding, the two new friends enjoy the tree together. Childlike mixed-media illustrations complement the story's gentle humor.
Reviewer: Martha Sibert
(2)
K-3
A young girl absorbed in reading the same book we are also holding enters the narrative, discovering many facts about polar bears as she begins to follow one bear across the frozen Arctic. The enumerative text is clear and informative, but the mixed-media collages steal the show here, with each double-page-spread illustration adding detail and depth to the text.
Reviewer: Betty Carter
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
March, 2017
(3)
K-3
Both beautiful and instructive, the book illustrates a child's integration of information about this amazing mammal: fifty people could stand inside its mouth, "a single breath could inflate 2,000 balloons," and so on. More poetic than these examples might suggest, Desmond's words accompany art predominated by luscious blues that ranges in mood from whimsical to dreamlike to majestic.
Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin
(3)
K-3
Whenever antagonistic Red Cat and Blue Cat cross paths, "it was NOT good. Not good at all." But they are really just envious of each other's traits. The opposites eventually learn to get along (and accept themselves) by taking a walk in the other's shoes. The succinct text is quirky, and the primary-color-saturated illustrations ably express the cats' antics and bouncy movements.
Reviewer: Madoka Fukai
5 reviews
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