A methodical, if not exceptional, addition to the abundant stream of books on the topic.
An introduction to the water cycle designed for a multilevel audience.
Cued not only by changes in type size and text density, but also language ranging from transparently silly questions (“Why do clouds start to rain? Is it because giants are crying in the sky?”) to explanations of, for example, the role of plant stomata in transpiration, this overview aims wide and combines clear explanations with repetition to make its shower of basic facts easy to absorb. In Bassani’s cartoon illustrations, a cast diverse in age, race, and species poses next to helpful diagrams, demonstrates ways of conserving water around the house, and encourages young hands-on sorts to follow directions for constructing a simple “water cycle in a bag” project. Aside from supplying only a lower range for the weight of an average cumulus cloud (1.1 million pounds, but some published estimates come in at much higher numbers), Hayes is careful with specifics. But readers expecting an answer to one character’s question, “Where does all this water come from?” or a link—which the author fails to draw in discussing why we need to conserve it—between droughts and climate change will be frustrated by the lack of leads to deeper resources. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A methodical, if not exceptional, addition to the abundant stream of books on the topic. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 9781486725656
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Flowerpot Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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