Likely to miss its intended audience—but may find another.
A quartet of crawlers in eyeglasses and onesies gets the lowdown on weather.
Following up Space and Ocean (both 2019) in the Nerdy Babies series, Kastner breezes through a broad range of often complex meteorological topics, from rain, snow, and hail (“Precipitation!”) to select types of clouds, thunder and lightning, and the difference between “weather” and “climate.” How much of this the multiracial set of precocious toddlers on view (“The wind has socks?” asks one. “Kind of!” answers another) or the actual rug rats they supposedly represent will absorb is questionable. However, putting the information out there does at least make it available to caregivers, and the author’s repeated appeals to be, and stay, curious about the world is a worthy message for everyone. In a companion volume, Rocks, she makes the same plea while chipping away at the three types of rocks, geological formations, the rock cycle, and (without actually using the term, which is odd in a discourse featuring terms like “metamorphic” and “stalagmite”) plate tectonics. The “nerd” glasses are a cute, if stereotypical, conceit, but the babies are winningly expressive, and aside from a strangely drab rainbow in Weather, the illustrations add washes of bright color. Both titles are available in board editions, enabling caregivers to share them with an audience even less likely to understand them.
Likely to miss its intended audience—but may find another. (Informational picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-31231-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
There’s charm in this picture book, but it’s a bit of a wash.
A rhyming introduction to a variety of weather phenomena.
“So how about that weather?” A ubiquitous small-talk topic gets the board-book treatment in this cheerful informational text. Enthusiastic, colorful illustrations are a highlight, and beaming, anthropomorphic kawaii-style weather formations are eye-grabbers. Who doesn’t love a grinning rainbow? Children with various skin tones pictured throughout the book are equally pleasant and include a wheelchair user. If the book is agreeable to look at, it's less so to listen to. The oft-stilted rhymes aren't intuitive, and clunkers like “when a cloud gets dark and heavy with rain it's called a cumulonimbus which is such a funny name” take a few tries to get right when read aloud. Adding insult to injury, the line breaks are sometimes jarring, making the rhyme even more daunting. Most of the main sections contain appropriately digestible bits of introductory information conveyed in a bubbly, enthusiastic tone, with snow described vividly as “raindrops that freeze into crystals.” However, sometimes there is a mismatch between the text and its intended audience. Some topics—seasons, clouds, rain—with their easily visible and experiential elements, seem perfectly suited for toddlers; others, like humidity and hurricanes, are more of a stretch. A “Fun Fact” section discussing matters such as the Earth’s axis and climatology versus meteorology is more appropriate for early-elementary learners. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
There’s charm in this picture book, but it’s a bit of a wash. (Informational board book. 2-5)Pub Date: May 17, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-953344-47-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Genius Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Sure to appeal to budding paleontologists everywhere.
Colorful, fun, and informative guide for pint-sized dinosaur enthusiasts.
Kid-friendly and more informative than most dino books for tots, this lift-the-flap dinosaur book is a great next step for any kid with an interest in the subject. Each double-page panorama—occasionally folding out to three or even four pages wide—is organized around types of dinosaurs or habitats. While most featured dinosaurs are land dwellers, prehistoric reptiles of the sea and sky appear as well. Dinosaurs are rendered in bright colors on a white background in a childlike style that makes even Tyrannosaurus rex not too terrifying. Make no mistake, though; the king of the dinosaurs is clearly labeled “CARNIVORE.” Folding T. rex’s head back reveals a black-and-white handsaw, to which the text likens its enormous, sharp teeth. Another marginal illustration, captioned, “Watch out! T. rex is looking for its lunch,” shows a Triceratops specimen on a plate. Yet another reads, “Crushed dinosaur bones have been found in T. rex poop!” Several racially diverse kids appear in each scene, like toddler scientists variously observing, inspecting, and riding on the dinosaurs depicted. In addition to teaching the difference between herbivores and carnivores, the book also conveys a sense of the scale of these prehistoric beasts: Diplodocus is two school buses long, a Triceratops adult is the size of an elephant, and a Velociraptor is the size of a turkey, for example.
Sure to appeal to budding paleontologists everywhere. (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0809-2
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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