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IN THE AIR

Name: IN THE AIR
Author: Neecy Twinem
ISBN: 0-88106-943-4

by Neecy Twinem & illustrated by Neecy Twinem ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1997

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This charmingly illustrated board book in the Animal Clues series may prove confusing to the conventional board-book audience. Twinem invites onlookers to guess which creature is described in brief word clues, beginning with a close-up of an oval black eye: ``My eyes are small and dark.'' The next frame shows a feathered throat, and later references are made to a long bill, sipping nectar, and hovering in the air. ``I am a hummingbird!'' Sweet, but of limited usefulness. (Board book. 1-5)

Pub Date: July 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-88106-943-4

Page Count: 10

Publisher: Charlesbridge

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1997

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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FUTURE ENGINEER

From the Future Baby series

by Lori Alexander ; illustrated by Allison Black ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 17, 2019

A book about engineering notable mostly for its illustrations of diverse characters. (Board book. 1-3)

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Babies and engineers have more in common than you think.

In this book, Alexander highlights the unlikely similarities between babies and engineers. Like engineers, babies ask questions, enjoy building, and learn from their mistakes. Black’s bold, colorful illustrations feature diverse babies and both male- and female-presenting adult characters with a variety of skin tones and hair colors, effectively demonstrating that engineers can be any race or either gender. (Nonbinary models are a little harder to see.) The story ends with a reassurance to the babies in the book that “We believe in you!” presumably implying that any child can be an engineer. The end pages include facts about different kinds of engineers and the basic process used by all engineers in their work. Although the book opens with a rhythmic rhyming couplet, the remaining text lacks the same structure and pattern, making it less entertaining to read. Furthermore, while some of the comparisons between babies and engineers are both clever and apt, others—such as the idea that babies know where to look for answers—are flimsier. The book ends with a text-heavy spread of facts about engineering that, bereft of illustrations, may not hold children’s attention as well as the previous pages. Despite these flaws, on its best pages, the book is visually stimulating, witty, and thoughtful.

A book about engineering notable mostly for its illustrations of diverse characters. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-338-31223-2

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
SEEDS OF DISCOVERY
by Lori Alexander illustrated by Rebecca Santo

- BOOK REVIEW
CACTUS QUEEN
by Lori Alexander ; illustrated by Jenn Ely

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT'S A GERM, JOSEPH LISTER?
by Lori Alexander ; illustrated by Daniel Duncan

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I'M A HARE, SO THERE!

by Julie Rowan-Zoch ; illustrated by Julie Rowan-Zoch ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 16, 2021

Animated and educational.

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A hare and a ground squirrel banter about the differences between related animals that are often confused for one another.

Jack is “no Flopsy, Mopsy, or Cottontail,” but a “H-A-R-E, hare!” Like sheep and goats, or turtles and tortoises, rabbits and hares may look similar, but hares are bigger, their fur changes color in the winter, and they are born with their eyes wide open. As the ground squirrel (not to be mistaken for a chipmunk (even though Jack cheekily calls it “Chippie”) and Jack engage in playful discussion about animals, a sneaky coyote prowls after them through the Sonoran Desert. This picture book conveys the full narrative in spirited, speech-bubbled dialogue set on expressive illustrations of talking animals. Dark outlines around the characters make their shapes pop against the softly blended colors of the desert backgrounds. Snappy back-and-forth paired with repetition and occasional rhyme enhances the story’s appeal as a read-aloud. As the story progresses, the colors of the sky shift from dawn to dusk, providing subtle, visual bookends for the narrative. One page of backmatter offers a quick guide to eight easily confused pairs, and a second turns a subsequent exploration of the book into a seek-and-find of 15 creatures (and one dessert) hidden in the desert. Unfortunately, while most of the creatures from the seek-and-find appear in poses that match the illustrations in the challenge, not all of them are consistently represented. (This book was reviewed digitally with 7-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 53.3% of actual size.)

Animated and educational. (Picture book. 3-5)