A refreshing dip thanks to lively imagery in both art and narrative.
A tour of our planet’s largest habitat (by far), with glimpses of prominent residents.
Sandwiched between statements from David Attenborough and couched throughout in the same distinctly avuncular tones, this offshoot from a BBC nature documentary series offers both the requisite messages about plastics pollution and care for our environment and a set of undersea scenes with brief but lively captions, from the “delicate underwater ballet” of a kelp forest to a battery of bluntnose sixgill sharks chowing down on a dead whale “like hungry teenagers arriving for dinner.” In mixes of vignettes and larger seascapes, Dove ably evokes the beauty of the series’ digitally enhanced video work, if not its grandeur, with painted galleries of gracefully posed, accurately detailed flora and (more often) fauna from tiny plankton to walruses, whales, siphonophores (“giant trailing death nets”), and like “bruisers and cruisers” in coastal rockpools on down to deepest depths. It’s a tempting invitation to dive in—notwithstanding one startling aerial view of a stylized Palm Beach with swarms of sharks lurking just offshore. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A refreshing dip thanks to lively imagery in both art and narrative. (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: July 18, 2023
ISBN: 9781665928021
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
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
A lighthearted first look at an increasingly useful skill.
Grown-ups may not be the only audience for this simple explanation of how algorithms work.
Taking a confused-looking hipster parent firmly in hand, a child first points to all the computers around the house (“Pro Tip: When dealing with grown-ups, don’t jump into the complicated stuff too fast. Start with something they already know”). Next, the child leads the adult outside to make and follow step-by-step directions for getting to the park, deciding which playground equipment to use, and finally walking home. Along the way, concepts like conditionals and variables come into play in street maps and diagrams, and a literal bug stands in for the sort that programmers will inevitably need to find and solve. The lesson culminates in an actual sample of very simple code with labels that unpack each instruction…plus a pop quiz to lay out a decision tree for crossing the street, because if “your grown-up can explain it, that shows they understand it!” That goes for kids, too—and though Spiro doesn’t take the logical next step and furnish leads to actual manuals, young (and not so young) fledgling coders will find plenty of good ones around, such as Get Coding! (2017), published by Candlewick, or Rachel Ziter’s Coding From Scratch (2018).
A lighthearted first look at an increasingly useful skill. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9781623543181
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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