Will guarantee this trailblazing scientist her place among the stars.
The inspirational story of the first female professional astronomer in the United States.
This engaging account focuses on 19th-century scientist Maria Mitchell’s passion for astronomy, her determination, and her achievements, among them her prizewinning telescopic comet discovery; her work on the Nautical Almanac, essential for navigation; and (after years as a librarian, self-educated in mathematics) her eventual position at Vassar College, where she taught women for more than 20 years—the world’s first female astronomy professor. The concise, clear text provides comprehensible explanations of her successes, though it does leave out some details, such as her family background, her unusual education, her founding of a girls school, and her involvement in the abolitionist movement. The annular eclipse that Maria regrets missing in 1831 at age 12 forms one bookend, deftly recalled near the end, when, missing another in 1885, she observes not a ring of fire but “another powerful ring—a ring of women”: her diligent students. The fine-line illustrations are equally spare but add just-right details, like a maritime chronometer and the book-lined Nantucket Atheneum, where some people of color can be seen. The astronomer’s hard work, delight at confirming her comet discovery, and pleasure in teaching are apparent in her facial expressions and body language. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Will guarantee this trailblazing scientist her place among the stars. (Maria’s rules of astronomical observation, glossary, types of solar eclipses, timeline, selected bibliography) (Picture-book biography. 6-9)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781954354135
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Creston
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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