Strong visuals, but the topic gets, at best, a hasty once-over.
Questions and answers in prose and verse about clouds, rainbows, and other atmospheric phenomena.
Perron poses queries about why the sky is blue, what makes winds blow, and other meteorological topics. Quick explanations are provided in the next verse, and somewhat fuller ones are included toward the end. Throughout, the refrain “How I wonder, wonder why” anchors the text. Some rationales are clear enough: Winds arise when cool air rushes in to replace warmer air that has risen; lightning’s heat creates atmospheric shock waves that we hear as thunder. But Perron throws in terms such as wavelength and Coriolis effect without defining them. She states that rainbows appear “when sunlight hits a water droplet” but that clouds, made up of water droplets, “usually look white because they scatter all colors of lights equally”—which may leave readers more confused than enlightened. Still, the author’s invitation to marvel at the wonders overhead is compelling. Henderson’s vividly hued illustrations add drama as well as detail as they track a thunderstorm’s progress from sunny skies to darkening clouds, jagged lightning bolts amid heavy rain, arcing rainbows afterward, and at last a shimmering nightscape. When not portrayed as silhouettes, tiny human figures peering quizzically up at the sky’s natural beauties vary in skin tone.
Strong visuals, but the topic gets, at best, a hasty once-over. (Informational poetry picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 15, 2025
ISBN: 9780063310421
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so...
A pro bono Twinkie of a book invites readers to fly off in a magic plane to bring clean water to our planet’s oceans, deserts, and brown children.
Following a confusingly phrased suggestion beneath a soft-focus world map to “touch the Earth. Now touch where you live,” a shake of the volume transforms it into a plane with eyes and feathered wings that flies with the press of a flat, gray “button” painted onto the page. Pressing like buttons along the journey releases a gush of fresh water from the ground—and later, illogically, provides a filtration device that changes water “from yucky to clean”—for thirsty groups of smiling, brown-skinned people. At other stops, a tap on the button will “help irrigate the desert,” and touching floating bottles and other debris in the ocean supposedly makes it all disappear so the fish can return. The 20 children Coh places on a globe toward the end are varied of skin tone, but three of the four young saviors she plants in the flier’s cockpit as audience stand-ins are white. The closing poem isn’t so openly parochial, though it seldom rises above vague feel-good sentiments: “Love the Earth, the moon and sun. / All the children can be one.”
“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so easy to clean the place up and give everyone a drink? (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5107-2083-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Readers (and listeners) will think that this book is the bee’s knees.
Children will be buzzing to learn more about honeybees after reading this story.
Hall takes her readers on a sunny romp through a springtime pasture abuzz with friendly honeybees in this bright and cheerful picture book. Hall’s rhyme scheme is inviting and mirrors the staccato sounds of a bee buzzing. At times, however, meaning seems to take a back seat to the rhyme. The bees are suggested to “tap” while flying, a noise that adult readers might have trouble explaining to curious listeners. Later, the “hill” the bees return to may elicit further questions, as this point is not addressed textually or visually. Minor quibbles aside, the vocabulary is on-point as the bees demonstrate the various stages of nectar collection and honey creation. Arsenault’s illustrations, a combination of ink, gouache, graphite, and colored pencil, are energetic and cheerful. Extra points should be awarded for properly illustrating a natural honeybee hive (as opposed to the often depicted wasp nest). The expressive bees are also well-done. Their faces are welcoming, but their sharp noses hint at the stingers that may be lurking behind them. Hall’s ending note to readers will be appreciated by adults but will require their interpretation to be accessible to children. A sensible choice for read-alouds and STEAM programs.
Readers (and listeners) will think that this book is the bee’s knees. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 8, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6997-5
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
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