Heartily inspiring.
Using a combination of poetic language and supplemental prose paragraphs, the author relates facts about the hearts and heartbeats of a dozen different animals—including human beings.
Bold, bright, full-color art accompanies each double-page spread. On the first, the image of what appears to be a mammal’s heart supports the artist’s bio, which notes the influence of mid-20th-century design and color. Accompanying it, 11 lines of text, displayed in center alignment, briefly describe a heart’s function and then dwell on the heartbeat as the “unmistakable sound of a tireless muscle….Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.” That particular onomatopoeia is used for the heartbeats of an octopus, a python, and a human being. (Boyle doesn’t attempt this device for the heartbeat of an Etruscan pygmy shrew—an astonishing 1,500 beats per minute.) Each animal’s spread is worth a good deal of attention, both for the information itself and for the use of different kinds of poetic devices. There is humor, too; no one should miss the funny rhymes about the “relaxed” camel and its “untaxed” heart. Although comparisons among an astonishing range of heartbeats and types of hearts are part of the fun, the sheer amount of words, concepts, and literary play makes this perhaps better suited for reference—in terms of both science and language arts—than as a one-sitting read. Some readers may be taken aback at the omission of bears from the list of the “only four mammals in North America that hibernate.”
Heartily inspiring. (author’s note, resources) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8075-3190-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature.
In a new entry in the Over and Under series, a paddleboarder glimpses humpback whales leaping, floats over a populous kelp forest, and explores life on a beach and in a tide pool.
In this tale inspired by Messner’s experiences in Monterey Bay in California, a young tan-skinned narrator, along with their light-skinned mom and tan-skinned dad, observes in quiet, lyrical language sights and sounds above and below the sea’s serene surface. Switching perspectives and angles of view and often leaving the family’s red paddleboards just tiny dots bobbing on distant swells, Neal’s broad seascapes depict in precise detail bat stars and anchovies, kelp bass, and sea otters going about their business amid rocky formations and the swaying fronds of kelp…and, further out, graceful moon jellies and—thrillingly—massive whales in open waters beneath gliding pelicans and other shorebirds. After returning to the beach at day’s end to search for shells and to spot anemones and decorator crabs, the child ends with nighttime dreams of stars in the sky meeting stars in the sea. Appended nature notes on kelp and 21 other types of sealife fill in details about patterns and relationships in this rich ecosystem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79720-347-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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