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IT STARTED WITH A BIG BANG

Name: IT STARTED WITH A BIG BANG
Author: Floor Bal
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0255-8

THE ORIGIN OF EARTH, YOU AND EVERYTHING ELSE

by Floor Bal ; illustrated by Sebastiaan Van Doninck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2019

A simple, effective introduction to some big ideas for curious young readers.

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From nothing to “a big tangled web” of life, the origin of the universe and everything in it.

Science journalist Bal pares the most commonly accepted models for the origin of the universe and development of life down to bare essentials, presenting them as accepted fact and gliding over some obvious questions. (Where did the stuff that fills the universe come from?) Nevertheless, this is an appealing addition to a small shelf of titles about cosmic beginnings for the very young. Unlike Marion Dane Bauer’s The Stuff of Stars, illustrated by Ekua Holmes (2018), it stops with the accomplishments of humans as a group, ending with the moon landing rather than with the individual reader. Unlike Karen Fox’s Older Than the Stars, illustrated by Nancy Davis (2010), there’s no supplemental backmatter. Special to this version of the vast history are Van Doninck’s sinuous illustrations, which explode with playful detail, swirls of color in the darkness of space, and surprising landscapes. One spread shows a wave of increasingly complex sea animals; another, the dinosaurs’ world; and a third, the catastrophic arrival of an asteroid and the dark world that followed. Earth is repopulated with dark-furred apes learning to walk upright; lighter skinned cave artists; then farmers, herders, travelers, and finally astronauts of varied skin tones. First published in 2018 in the Netherlands, this was translated by the Canadian publisher for this English edition.

A simple, effective introduction to some big ideas for curious young readers. (Informational picture book. 5-9)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-5253-0255-8

Page Count: 34

Publisher: Kids Can

Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S DINOSAURS & PREHISTORIC CREATURES | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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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 FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS
edited by Henry Herz

- BOOK REVIEW
WINK
edited by Henry Herz ; illustrated by Adam Gustavson

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

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BUTT OR FACE?

by Kari Lavelle ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2023

A gleeful game for budding naturalists.

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Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.

In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)