Just the ticket for budding naturalists with a serious interest in our planet’s remotest reaches.
The feline science explorer conducts a tour of the world’s oceans.
Though readers who have navigated Miranda Krestovnikoff’s Ocean: Exploring Our Blue Planet, illustrated by Jill Calder (2020), or any of the many like ventures will find the territory and content familiar, the professor’s enthusiasm (“KNOWLEDGE AWAITS!”) and Newman’s busy, blocky scenes of sea life and landforms lend extra vim to the adventure. There are bits of comedy and side commentary, but generally the members of the bright-eyed animal crew familiar from previous expeditions are all business, asking leading questions or pointing significantly to underscore the professor’s neat, legible blocks of observations and explanations. After first gathering on the beach for a look at tides, tide pools, and erosion, the explorers dive for close looks at diverse habitats from kelp forests to shipwrecks, with occasional pauses to study broad topics like food webs or plate tectonics. Following encounters with whales and sharks, fish, birds, and dozens of other marine denizens at every depth, the voyagers land on the Galápagos Islands, split up to visit the poles, regather for quick ganders at how oceans are being threatened and protected, then close out with a final spray of “Factoroids”: “More people have stepped on the surface of the Moon than have been to the Mariana Trench.”
Just the ticket for budding naturalists with a serious interest in our planet’s remotest reaches. (glossary, index) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-912497-89-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
The story feels a bit contrived, but Ada will be a welcome addition to the small circle of science-loving girls in the...
Using science and technology, third-grader Ada Lace kicks off her new series by solving a mystery even with her leg in a cast.
Temporarily housebound after a badly executed bungee jump, Ada uses binoculars to document the ecosystem of her new neighborhood in San Francisco. She records her observations in a field journal, a project that intrigues new friend Nina, who lives nearby. When they see that Ms. Reed’s dog, Marguerite, is missing, they leap to the conclusion that it has been stolen. Nina does the legwork and Ada provides the technology for their search for the dognapper. Story-crafting takes a back seat to scene-setting in this series kickoff that introduces the major players. As part of the series formula, science topics and gadgetry are integrated into the stories and further explained in a “Behind the Science” afterword. This installment incorporates drones, a wireless camera, gecko gloves, and the Turing test as well as the concept of an ecosystem. There are no ethnic indicators in the text, but the illustrations reveal that Ada, her family, and bratty neighbor Milton are white; Nina appears to be Southeast Asian; and Mr. Peebles, an inventor who lives nearby, is black.
The story feels a bit contrived, but Ada will be a welcome addition to the small circle of science-loving girls in the chapter-book world. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8599-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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