Worthy leafing.
From France, an encyclopedic encomium to trees.
Five chapters are further broken down into double-page spreads with headlined text and many labeled illustrations. The first chapter (“Amazing Plants”) is engrossing and scientific except for the glaring contradiction in this glib subheading: “Trees are plants that tower high in the sky.” Why glaring? Directly next to it are three finely detailed, labeled drawings of heather, gorse, and hazelnut. Their subheading is “Trees grow in every size!”—and, indeed, heather’s maximum height of 3 feet emphasizes a height range that dips far below “towering.” The rest of the double-page spread includes an excellent list of five characteristics that distinguish trees from other plants; an appealing sidebar explaining why palm and bamboo are not trees; and a detailed illustration of an English oak with arrows pointing out basic components. Throughout, text and layout are accessible and engaging, with a variety that includes straight facts about leaves, growth, reproduction, and communication, as well as activities such as multiple-choice quizzes and directions to figure out a tree’s height. The art is a great boon, exuding an aura of reverence in its careful details and coloration. Interspersed seek-and-find pages are an exemplary collaboration of art and text that encourages readers to use observation skills to learn additional arboreal information. Pretty double-page spreads show specific sites with labeled trees. Below, details from the scene accompany questions such as, “Which tree doesn’t let anything grow at its base?” (This review has been updated for factual accuracy.)
Worthy leafing. (contents, index, answers) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-61689-971-4
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
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
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature.
In a new entry in the Over and Under series, a paddleboarder glimpses humpback whales leaping, floats over a populous kelp forest, and explores life on a beach and in a tide pool.
In this tale inspired by Messner’s experiences in Monterey Bay in California, a young tan-skinned narrator, along with their light-skinned mom and tan-skinned dad, observes in quiet, lyrical language sights and sounds above and below the sea’s serene surface. Switching perspectives and angles of view and often leaving the family’s red paddleboards just tiny dots bobbing on distant swells, Neal’s broad seascapes depict in precise detail bat stars and anchovies, kelp bass, and sea otters going about their business amid rocky formations and the swaying fronds of kelp…and, further out, graceful moon jellies and—thrillingly—massive whales in open waters beneath gliding pelicans and other shorebirds. After returning to the beach at day’s end to search for shells and to spot anemones and decorator crabs, the child ends with nighttime dreams of stars in the sky meeting stars in the sea. Appended nature notes on kelp and 21 other types of sealife fill in details about patterns and relationships in this rich ecosystem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79720-347-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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