Playfulness and pedagogy intertwined.
A dog and a child joyously demonstrate gravity, friction, inertia, and other physical phenomena.
With an eye to her STEM-centric theme, Peters outfits her free-verse romps with titular references to physics and parenthetical identifications of relevant topics or principles—so that, for instance, in “Extra Electrons #2 (Electricity),” “My generous dog / gives me electrons / on cool, dry days” by rolling on a carpet until she is “excessively negative” and then bestowing a nose kiss: “Zap!” Likewise, digging claws into a carpet at bathtime and then escaping when soaped and slick demonstrate friction and its lack; zooming down a playground slide shows gravity in action; and if the poet mentions only three stages of matter in “Phase-Crazy Dog” (“My amazing dog / is like a Gas / whenever she chases flies. / She leaps! She jumps! / She’s everywhere at once!”), she does hint that there are others in the expansive set of notes on each poem at the end. In exuberantly drawn sketches, Bloch places a hyperactive canine of indeterminate breed and a dark-skinned child of ambiguous gender with a lighter-skinned Aunty Rosa as caregiver amid stars or jagged lines and other indicators of motion or energy flow. The final entry leaves physics behind for a loving “Paradox”: “My cosmic dog and I / are just / specks / in outer space,” but “we are in the center / of our universe.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Playfulness and pedagogy intertwined. (Picture-book poetry/science. 7-9)Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-63592-527-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Wordsong/Astra Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2022
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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