Accessible and approachable, a useful tool for science learning.
Acadia and two friends learn more science while enjoying a Maine winter.
This is the third in a thoughtful series that began with Summer Science (2018). Like its predecessors, this combines a slight storyline with science facts, definitions, and descriptions of experiments using the scientific method. A melting snowman, a floating balloon, a paper-airplane contest, a wait outside in the cold, and a sledding challenge prompt 11-year-old Acadia’s questions, which are presented in a present-tense narrative with unlikely dialogue but realistic daily details. Her parents are always happy to help her find answers, offering clear explanations, demonstrations, and encouragement for further experimentation. This outing introduces the topics of climate change, food waste, recycling and repurposing, atoms and elements, buoyancy, aerodynamics, animal adaptations for winter, and the physics of sledding. In each chapter, the protagonists accomplish some activity, one that could be easily replicated by readers at home or in school: listing ways to reduce one’s carbon footprint or looking for animal tracks in the snow, for example. The author appends a list of helpful websites for further exploration of each topic. Acadia is pictured as pale and blonde; Joshua is darker, with straight hair, and brown-skinned Isabel wears her hair in two Afro puffs. Experiments, charts, and definitions are hand-lettered and profusely decorated with sketches, and each chapter ends with further questions.
Accessible and approachable, a useful tool for science learning. (Informational fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-88448-607-7
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Superbly written and illustrated; keeps readers breathless and guessing until the end.
A 22nd-century picaresque with nefarious characters, chosen family, unavoidable camping, and lifesaving butterflies.
It’s 2101, and most mammals have died from sun exposure—a fate the few remaining humans suffer if they don’t live underground as Deepers. Some Deepers are friendly; others will take what they can get by any means necessary. Since Elvie’s parents departed for Michoacán, Mexico, 8 years earlier in search of more monarch butterflies, ran into danger, and have not returned, 10-year-old Black science whiz Elvie has been cared for by her guardian, Flora, a White scientist. Flora and Elvie hope to make a vaccine that enables humans to tolerate sunlight. They struggle to find food, and Flora’s awful cooking sometimes makes their foraged food inedible. Elvie’s journals, which contain her homework, science notes, and sketches, trace their journey—including tracking their latitude and longitude daily—as they follow the amazing migration path of the monarchs, whose young have the ingredient necessary for making both the sun sickness antidote and the vaccine. The eclecticism of Case’s lively visuals in this riveting graphic novel will keep readers both enthralled and learning. The book teaches some astronomy, botany, biology, entomology, animal science, knot tying, and more. Elvie’s special relationship with Flora, along with her quick wit, scientific knowledge, and careful observation skills, makes her a character worth following. Yet she’s all kid—and one who badly wants to be reunited with her parents.
Superbly written and illustrated; keeps readers breathless and guessing until the end. (author's note) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4260-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Margaret Ferguson/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
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