A stirring invitation to join the great enterprise.
A message to the groundbreaking scientists of the future, with connections to those of the past and present.
“So,” Messner writes, “where are the next great scientists now?” Perhaps they are “building stuff” in their yards or garages—like Isaac Newton, who made kites when he was a boy, or Lonnie Johnson, who as a youngster built a go-kart engine from scrap. Johnson grew up to design spacecraft for NASA (and invent the Super Soaker); as for Newton, he only became one of the greatest scientists ever. Likewise, as a child in Lebanon, Ayah Bdeir enjoyed taking radios apart and later became a maker of electronic educational toys; as a refugee from El Salvador, Carolina Peñalva-Arana came to the U.S. to become a molecular ecologist. The inspirational tenor will assure young people that they, too, can follow suit, while the variety of subjects—many not typically covered in children’s nonfiction—sets this one apart from similar fare. In a gallery of over 40 people who are diverse in terms of race and cultural background, Kuo depicts this array of scientific luminaries first as children and then as adults, differing in dress and setting but all looking intently focused on what they’re doing or studying. As Messner concludes in a soaring finish, all are also hoping that today’s young “makers” will “be up to the job of creating a better world.” She leaves it to readers to answer her opening question.
A stirring invitation to join the great enterprise. (source list, further reading) (Collective biography. 6-10)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9781452176963
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
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)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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