A ridiculously simplistic apology for science and technology. Bova sets up a straw idiot who cries "get rid of science and technology" and "stop research" (anti-science spokesmen "cry" and "blame" here, while scientists and engineers "point out"), then mows him down by reminding us that no one would want to live without fire like homo erectus. . . or even caked with grime and dying like the gentle Tasaday. And that though some here seek a return to medieval subsistence farming, those in India and elsewhere who do live that way are striving to enter the 20th century. (He doesn't assess the prospects for human survival after everyone gets there.) It is science and technology, Bova goes on, that eliminated slavery and brought wealth which made workers' lives richer. As for scientists making the atom bomb, "nuclear science has saved more lives than it has taken" and its second generation promise is endless. Further, "if Frankenstein really existed, his knowledge would be used to help sick people. . . so scientists are really on our side"—and, in fact, it is their unheralded work that has caused the U.S. and Soviet Russia to head in the direction of a "safer and saner" world. (?) Because Bova never faces the hard questions—preferring to answer stupid ones like "if you scientists really believe in evolution why do you call it a theory"—he won't win over any thoughtful humanities types who have serious reservations about the long run benefits of runaway technology. And as for those others who are taking up the occult: If it is simultaneously likely that they (a) pose a threat to the rule of reason and (b) are open to persuasion by reason, then a serious, point-by-point investigation such as Gallant's Astrology (KR, 1974) should be more convincing.
Pub Date: April 1, 1975
ISBN: 0664325572
Page Count: 123
Publisher: Westminster
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1975
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist.
This follow-up to How To Read a Story (2005) shows a child going through the steps of creating a story, from choosing an idea through sharing with friends.
A young black child lies in a grassy field writing in a journal, working on “Step 1 / Search for an Idea— / a shiny one.” During a walk to the library, various ideas float in colorful thought bubbles, with exclamation points: “playing soccer! / dogs!” Inside the library, less-distinct ideas, expressed as shapes and pictures, with question marks, float about as the writer collects ideas to choose from. The young writer must then choose a setting, a main character, and a problem for that protagonist. Plotting, writing with detail, and revising are described in child-friendly terms and shown visually, in the form of lists and notes on faux pieces of paper. Finally, the writer sits in the same field, in a new season, sharing the story with friends. The illustrations feature the child’s writing and drawing as well as images of imagined events from the book in progress bursting off the page. The child’s main character is an adventurous mermaid who looks just like the child, complete with afro-puff pigtails, representing an affirming message about writing oneself into the world. The child’s family, depicted as black, moves in the background of the setting, which is also populated by a multiracial cast.
A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5666-8
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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