Far from stinky.
Unearth the smelly, complicated history of London’s sewage system!
This informative exploration of London’s sanitation history will delight nonfiction fans interested in history, ecology, biography, and more. A brief account of London’s waste-removal system from the 1500s to the 1800s provides context before the book introduces Joseph Bazalgette, the future father of sanitation. Bazalgette’s journey is woven into the multiple cholera epidemics, the incorrect medical information, and the political challenges that defined the age. Backmatter further explains the connection between the London sewage system of the 1800s and the modern world. A bulleted list of information provides additional information about modern systems and suggestions for ways families can reduce water pollution. Keen educators and caregivers will find this a useful tool in lessons about ecology. The watercolor-and-ink illustrations make the most of the text, creating sweeping double-page spreads that depict the teeming city and the grandeur of Bazalgette’s work. The addition of skeletons intermingling with the living population drives home the losses of the epidemics—a message that won’t be lost on modern readers—and the inclusion of a range of skin tones will quietly remind readers that London has been a diverse city for centuries. Bazalgette himself presents White.
Far from stinky. (timeline, author’s note, further reading, selected bibliography) (Informational picture book. 7-12)Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4929-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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