As in One Day in the Prairie, . . .Alpine Tundra, and. . .Desert, George explores the ecology of an area through the observations of a patient child. Rebecca's objective is to see the ovenbird; Uncle Luke has described it as a wizard, but it's up to her to find it in the forest canopy or one of the other four layers of her eastern woodland park. After a 14-hour day, the ovenbird is found, and does indeed sing with beautifully described wizardry; meanwhile, Rebecca has seen dozens of other creatures—including a flying squirrel that walks into her hand and newly-hatched wood ducks jumping 40 feet from their nest to get to the pond below—and has put out a fire accidentally ignited by her magnifying glass. Young naturalists are rarely so persistent, and Rebecca's luck stretches credulity; but the device of describing her day wonderfully conveys the excitement possible in observations and the wonder of nature's interlocking links; and George neatly relates each detail to the larger ecological picture. Allen's black-and-white illustrations are delicate and precise; it's a tribute to George's evocative prose that the flasher artwork of other nature books is not missed.
Pub Date: Oct. 12, 1988
ISBN: 0064420175
Page Count: 68
Publisher: T.Y. Crowell
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1988
A book about engineering notable mostly for its illustrations of diverse characters. (Board book. 1-3)
Babies and engineers have more in common than you think.
In this book, Alexander highlights the unlikely similarities between babies and engineers. Like engineers, babies ask questions, enjoy building, and learn from their mistakes. Black’s bold, colorful illustrations feature diverse babies and both male- and female-presenting adult characters with a variety of skin tones and hair colors, effectively demonstrating that engineers can be any race or either gender. (Nonbinary models are a little harder to see.) The story ends with a reassurance to the babies in the book that “We believe in you!” presumably implying that any child can be an engineer. The end pages include facts about different kinds of engineers and the basic process used by all engineers in their work. Although the book opens with a rhythmic rhyming couplet, the remaining text lacks the same structure and pattern, making it less entertaining to read. Furthermore, while some of the comparisons between babies and engineers are both clever and apt, others—such as the idea that babies know where to look for answers—are flimsier. The book ends with a text-heavy spread of facts about engineering that, bereft of illustrations, may not hold children’s attention as well as the previous pages. Despite these flaws, on its best pages, the book is visually stimulating, witty, and thoughtful.
A book about engineering notable mostly for its illustrations of diverse characters. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-31223-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude.
A deceptively simple, visually appealing, comprehensive explanation of volcanoes.
Gibbons packs an impressive number of facts into this browsable nonfiction picture book. The text begins with the awe of a volcanic eruption: “The ground begins to rumble…ash, hot lava and rock, and gases shoot up into the air.” Diagrams of the Earth’s structural layers—inner and outer core, mantle, and crust—undergird a discussion about why volcanoes occur. Simple maps of the Earth’s seven major tectonic plates show where volcanoes are likeliest to develop. Other spreads with bright, clearly labeled illustrations cover intriguing subtopics: four types of volcanoes and how they erupt; underwater volcanoes; well-known volcanoes and historic volcanic eruptions around the world; how to be safe in the vicinity of a volcano; and the work of scientists studying volcanoes and helping to predict eruptions. A page of eight facts about volcanoes wraps things up. The straightforward, concise prose will be easy for young readers to follow. As always, Gibbons manages to present a great deal of information in a compact form.
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude. (Nonfiction picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4569-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
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