This historical survey depicts the changing technology and appearance of locomotives from the 1830s to the 1990s. O’Brien (Gigantic! How Big Were the Dinosaurs?, 1999, etc.) uses the device of a first person account of a fictional young boy whose ancestors are all train engineers. Beginning in the present and going backward in time, vignettes about a circus train, a Jessie James holdup, and a race between a stagecoach and an early locomotive are interspersed with technical information about trains and building the rails of the period. The illustrations help the reader see not only the changing locomotives but also the changing styles of clothing and architecture. A cat in the first picture looks directly at the reader, almost as if asking the reader to accompany her to the past. Her forebears look on in many of the illustrations, leading the eye to details in the watercolor and gouache paintings. The soft-focus style illustrating scenes in the past becomes sharper when depicting technical information. This fictional family may give a sense of time for youngsters, but the mixture of the fictional with the historical leads to questions about the facts. Did a woman really become an engineer in the 1930s? Was there a race between a train and a horse and carriage? How could an engineer make sure that no one got hurt during a train robbery? A pleasant book for the casual reader but not enough substance for the real train enthusiast. (Nonfiction. 4-9)
Pub Date: July 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-88106-969-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off.
This rocket hopes to take its readers on a birthday blast—but there may or may not be enough fuel.
Once a year, a one-seat rocket shoots out from Earth. Why? To reveal a special congratulatory banner for a once-a-year event. The second-person narration puts readers in the pilot’s seat and, through a (mostly) ballad-stanza rhyme scheme (abcb), sends them on a journey toward the sun, past meteors, and into the Kuiper belt. The final pages include additional information on how birthdays are measured against the Earth’s rotations around the sun. Collingridge aims for the stars with this title, and he mostly succeeds. The rhyme scheme flows smoothly, which will make listeners happy, but the illustrations (possibly a combination of paint with digital enhancements) may leave the viewers feeling a little cold. The pilot is seen only with a 1960s-style fishbowl helmet that completely obscures the face, gender, and race by reflecting the interior of the rocket ship. This may allow readers/listeners to picture themselves in the role, but it also may divest them of any emotional connection to the story. The last pages—the backside of a triple-gatefold spread—label the planets and include Pluto. While Pluto is correctly labeled as a dwarf planet, it’s an unusual choice to include it but not the other dwarfs: Ceres, Eris, etc. The illustration also neglects to include the asteroid belt or any of the solar system’s moons.
A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-18949-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: David Fickling/Phoenix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
The tough working trucks in Kate and Jim McMullan’s I Stink! (2002) and sequels look like lightweights next to their brawny prehistoric antecedents in Gall’s rousing, grimy full-bleed spreads. Crushing rocks and trees, flattening smaller creatures and sending diminutive cave people fleeing in pop-eyed panic, a round dozen metal behemoths roll by, from towering Craneosaurus—“CRACK, MUNCH. / Look out birds, it’s time for lunch!”—and the grossly incontinent Blacktopodon to a stampede of heavily armored Semisaurs and the “bully of the jungle,” toothy Tyrannosaurus Trux. Why aren’t these motorized monsters with us today? They are, though in the wake of a mighty storm that left most mired in the mud to rust, the survivors went South and, as a climactic foldout reveals, evolved into the more beneficent vehicles we know and love. Dinotrux ruled their world, and now they’re likely to rule this one too. Bellow on! (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: June 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-316-02777-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2009
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