Broad and forceful, like its subject.
Storm-swept illustrations carry a full bag of facts, myths, legends, and original poems about our planet’s winds.
“I am Wind,” Poliquin writes in a tone-establishing opener. “And I am wild.” Her free verse expressions on that theme alternate with short but clear explanations in prose and Wada’s vivid, sometimes schematic depictions of types and causes of storms, from destructive katabatic winds to hurricanes and tornados. Poliquin and Wada also explore wind in myth and history. Beginning with a gallery of dramatically expressive wind gods and demons, they weave together pithy retellings of a Māori origin myth, the story of how the bag of winds given to Odysseus by the wind god Aeolus caused such woe, and the tale of the “Kamikaze” winds that twice saved Japan from Mongol invasions. They also offer frightful accounts of the “Great Storm” that ravaged England in 1703 and the mile-wide tornado that blew disastrously through parts of Bangladesh in 1989. An overview of prevailing wind patterns worldwide and of the different types of sandstorms will expand readers’ perspectives on meteorological matters, as will views of various kinds of windmills and a closing look at how the 182 million tons of dust that “migrate” westward from the Sahara every year affect multiple ecosystems in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Americas. Human figures are small and are generally posed angled away from viewers, though characters of color do appear.
Broad and forceful, like its subject. (index, further reading) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780735272187
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
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
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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