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PIKA COUNTRY

Name: PIKA COUNTRY
Author: Dorothy Hinshaw Patent
ISBN: 978-1-970039-02-3

CLIMATE CHANGE AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD

by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent & Marlo Garnsworthy ; photographed by Dan Hartman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 22, 2020

An effective demonstration of the reverberations of climate change.

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Pikas, tiny rabbit relatives living in high altitudes, serve as an entry point toward understanding the consequences of a warming world.

Following At Home With the Beaver, with photos by Michael Runtz (2019), Patent, with co-author Garnsworthy, returns to the idea of the interconnectedness of species with this welcome new title. Hartman’s photographs dramatically illustrate a clear, well-organized text that opens with descriptions of the mountainous “pika country” near Yellowstone National Park and the feisty pikas. Readers first see a pika “scurry, scurry, hurry,” gathering food for the day and for its winter hay pile. There’s a helpful map and photos of the scenery in several seasons. The writers introduce the idea of climate change (printed in boldface and defined, like other important words, in a glossary) and other animals sharing this gradually warming habitat. Not only is the pika’s livable world shrinking as the snowline moves up the mountains, there’s less of an insulating snowpack in winter and fewer hours with appropriate temperatures for foraging in summer. Photos, diagrams (by Garnsworthy), and words work together to demonstrate the food web that includes this tiny mammal and other plants and animals, also threatened by the changing climate, whose lives connect with theirs. In conclusion, final essays explain today’s climate change causes and suggest some personal actions in the realms of transportation, living and eating habits, and sharing information, but no sources or further resources are offered.

An effective demonstration of the reverberations of climate change. (Nonfiction. 6-9)

Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-970039-02-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Web of Life

Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
AT HOME WITH THE PRAIRIE DOG
by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent ; photographed by William Muñoz

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LIZARD SCIENTISTS
by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent ; photographed by Nate Dappen & Neil Losin

- BOOK REVIEW
SAVING THE TASMANIAN DEVIL
by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

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I AM GRAVITY

by Henry Herz ; illustrated by Mercè López ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 15, 2024

An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
THE HITHERTO SECRET EXPERIMENTS OF MARIE CURIE
edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt & Henry Herz

- BOOK REVIEW
COMING OF AGE
edited by Jonathan Rosen & Henry Herz

- BOOK REVIEW
I AM SMOKE
by Henry Herz ; illustrated by Mercè López

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OVER AND UNDER THE WAVES

From the Over and Under series

by Kate Messner ; illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2022

More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature.

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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)