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DESERT JUNGLE

Name: DESERT JUNGLE
Author: Jeannie Baker
ISBN: 9781536225778

by Jeannie Baker ; illustrated by Jeannie Baker ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 9, 2023

Rich in sights and insights alike.

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A child learns greater appreciation for the previously ignored desert around him after a coyote steals his backpack—and his gaming tablet.

Inspired, she writes, by a long research trip to the Sonoran Desert’s Valle de los Cirios, located in Arizona and Baja California, and by studies indicating that deserts are actually richer in pollinator diversity than rainforests, Baker carpets the rocky, sandy landscapes in her beautiful low-relief collage illustrations with realistically detailed ocotillo, cholla, and other succulents. So dense is the vegetation that a young narrator briefly loses his way after wandering off in search of the backpack he had left outside his grandfather’s ranch house. Left with nothing better to do, he begins exploring—encountering local flora and fauna, collecting small mementos, and, climactically, sharing a cave with a coyote when a sudden storm blows up. And though the cave is empty when he returns, his grandpa claims that the animal is still there…pointing to an ancient image painted on the wall. From then on, even after he goes back to his village, the child’s newly kindled love of his land’s wonders remains. The author adds thoughts about how more and more children are subject to “nature-deficit disorder,” an indifference to the natural world caused by isolation from, and ignorance of, the plants and animals around them. As this profoundly stirring tale hints, connection is the only cure. Both characters present Latine. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Rich in sights and insights alike. (map) (Informational picture book. 6-9)

Pub Date: May 9, 2023

ISBN: 9781536225778

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
PLAYING WITH COLLAGE
by Jeannie Baker ; illustrated by Jeannie Baker ; photographed by Jaime Plaza

- BOOK REVIEW
CIRCLE
by Jeannie Baker ; illustrated by Jeannie Baker

- BOOK REVIEW
MIRROR
by Jeannie Baker & illustrated by Jeannie Baker

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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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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)