Van Steenwyk and Farnsworth (When Abraham Lincoln Talked to the Trees, not reviewed, etc.) take young readers back to that thrilling day of yesteryear—December 17, 1903, to be exact—when Orville Wright first flew the powered aircraft he and his brother Wilbur had so methodically invented. Between voiceovers that explain the event’s significance, the brothers Wright wake up in their rough Kitty Hawk shack, share breakfast and some stiff banter—“Wilbur: Come on now, Orville, admit it. It was fun when we straightened out the air pressure tables and got ’em right. Orville: Yep. Yep, that was fun”—then struggle out into the windy beach to do the deed. Farnsworth’s sepia-toned, impressionistic scenes vividly evoke the setting’s desolation, as well as capture a sense of the era. Though likely to be less fun to perform than Paul Fleischman’s choral scripts, this brief re-creation is easily doable in a classroom, and makes an inventive way to bring a pivotal historical event to life and handy for next year’s centennial. (postscript) (Picture book. 10-12)
Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-8028-5234-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2003
Remarking that ``nothing about the weather is very simple,'' Simon goes on to describe how the sun, atmosphere, earth's rotation, ground cover, altitude, pollution, and other factors influence it; briefly, he also tells how weather balloons gather information. Even for this outstanding author, it's a tough, complex topic, and he's not entirely successful in simplifying it; moreover, the import of the striking uncaptioned color photos here isn't always clear. One passage—``Cumulus clouds sometimes build up into towering masses called cumulus congestus, or swelling cumulus, which may turn into cumulonimbus clouds''—is superimposed on a blue-gray, cloud-covered landscape. But which kind of clouds are these? Another photo, in blue-black and white, shows what might be precipitation in the upper atmosphere, or rain falling on a darkened landscape, or...? Generally competent and certainly attractive, but not Simon's best. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-10546-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
Miranda’s book counts the monsters gathering at a birthday party, while a simple rhyming text keeps the tally and surveys the action: “Seven starved monsters are licking the dishes./Eight blow out candles and make birthday wishes.” The counting proceeds to ten, then by tens to fifty, then gradually returns to one, which makes the monster’s mother, a purple pin-headed octopus, very happy. The book is surprisingly effective due to Powell’s artwork; the color has texture and density, as if it were poured onto the page, but the real attention-getter is the singularity of every monster attendee. They are highly individual and, therefore, eminently countable. As the numbers start crawling upward, it is both fun and a challenge to try to recognize monsters who have appeared in previous pages, or to attempt to stay focused when counting the swirling or bunched creatures. The story has glints of humor, and in combination with the illustrations is a grand addition to the counting shelf. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201835-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
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