Interactive features are so limited that, platform aside, there isn’t much to choose between this and the print edition.
A melodramatic but gore-free introduction to T. Rex for younger and weak-stomached dino-fans.
Based on a 2004 book-and-CD kit, the episode pairs scenes of a realistically rendered tyrannosaur and several prospective victims in fully detailed natural settings. A perfunctory but rousing storyline—“Tyrannosaurus rex sniffs the air with her powerful nose. She smells lunch!”—is followed by a few closing screens of general facts. Viewers can opt at the beginning for auto or manual advance, audio narration or text only (the audio can be re-activated by touching any block of text). They can also turn off the pounding background music (though not the ongoing loud chorus of insect noises nor, apparently, the occasional popup link to this publisher’s other apps in the App Store). There’s no animation, but a swipe will both change the angle of view and bring up a different block of text, while a second swipe turns the page. Aside from one creature identified only as a “prehistoric bird,” tapping any dino helpfully activates a large label with an audio tag. Despite its bullying ways this toothy predator may draw some sympathy, as one prey animal after another escapes. No sooner does she finally seize and eat a hapless Anatotitan (entirely offstage and sans even crunchy sound effects) than an erupting volcano sends her fleeing.
Interactive features are so limited that, platform aside, there isn’t much to choose between this and the print edition. (iPad informational storybook app. 7-9)Pub Date: April 19, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Oceanhouse Media
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe.
An introduction to gravity.
The book opens with the most iconic demonstration of gravity, an apple falling. Throughout, Herz tackles both huge concepts—how gravity compresses atoms to form stars and how black holes pull all kinds of matter toward them—and more concrete ones: how gravity allows you to jump up and then come back down to the ground. Gravity narrates in spare yet lyrical verse, explaining how it creates planets and compresses atoms and comparing itself to a hug. “My embrace is tight enough that you don’t float like a balloon, but loose enough that you can run and leap and play.” Gravity personifies itself at times: “I am stubborn—the bigger things are, the harder I pull.” Beautiful illustrations depict swirling planets and black holes alongside racially diverse children playing, running, and jumping, all thanks to gravity. Thorough backmatter discusses how Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity and explains Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. While at times Herz’s explanations may be a bit too technical for some readers, burgeoning scientists will be drawn in.
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe. (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: April 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668936849
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal.
Before growing up to become a major figure in the civil rights movement, a boy finds a role model.
Buffing up a childhood tale told by her renowned father, Young Shelton describes how young Andrew saw scary men marching in his New Orleans neighborhood (“It sounded like they were yelling ‘Hi, Hitler!’ ”). In response to his questions, his father took him to see a newsreel of Jesse Owens (“a runner who looked like me”) triumphing in the 1936 Olympics. “Racism is a sickness,” his father tells him. “We’ve got to help folks like that.” How? “Well, you can start by just being the best person you can be,” his father replies. “It’s what you do that counts.” In James’ hazy chalk pastels, Andrew joins racially diverse playmates (including a White child with an Irish accent proudly displaying the nickel he got from his aunt as a bribe to stop playing with “those Colored boys”) in tag and other games, playing catch with his dad, sitting in the midst of a cheering crowd in the local theater’s segregated balcony, and finally visualizing himself pelting down a track alongside his new hero—“head up, back straight, eyes focused,” as a thematically repeated line has it, on the finish line. An afterword by Young Shelton explains that she retold this story, told to her many times growing up, drawing from conversations with Young and from her own research; family photos are also included. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, at once stirring and authentically personal. (illustrator’s note) (Autobiographical picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-545-55465-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
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