An appealingly distinctive approach to understanding evolution.
What remnants of our human evolution do we still carry around?
Wisdom Tooth, the bespectacled guide to this entertaining tour of a fictional museum devoted to vestigial phenomena, provides breezy and accessible explanations of natural selection, adaptation, and evolution. The text is amusingly “edited” as if in red pencil, offering lighthearted editorial commentary and occasional expansion of information at key points. Hanmer’s lively cartoon art includes labeled exhibits, diagrams, and round-eyed caricatures of creatures (microscopic animals, fish, early mammals, hominids, etc.) along the evolutionary path that produced humans and that left the usefulness of some traits behind: wisdom teeth, goosebumps, the palmar reflex, the coccyx, the little bump in the corner of the eye that was once a nictitating membrane, and even hiccups. Poliquin also speculates on possible reasons for humans’ relative hairlessness. A few experiments (picking up a pencil with toes and writing one’s name, timing how long it takes for wet fingers to become wrinkly) encourage self-observation. Though the discussion of evolution and its related processes and the overall attention to detail are precise and sophisticated, Poliquin refers to embryos and fetuses only as “babies” in discussing even the earliest weeks of human ontogeny. A glossary revisits and defines some of the museum exhibits and concepts from the tour.
An appealingly distinctive approach to understanding evolution. (further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 7-12)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-77164-745-8
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Greystone Kids
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A variety show brimming with esoteric and practical information.
Two youngsters embark on a journey peppered with history, trivia, and skits while teaching money lessons.
Meet Mellody and John, the young stars of this currency showcase. Their very first dialogue offers a taste of the intriguing information to come, from the ancient Mayans’ use of cacao beans as payment to the origins of the piggy bank. The book offers a chronologically and geographically broad timeline of the history of money, encompassing the past 3.9 billion years (starting with meteorite crashes that scattered metals—“the very first bank deposit”) and referencing practices across five continents. Readers will find themselves eagerly sharing the facts gleaned here, including the centuries-old origins of terms and expressions still used today. Mellody and John’s fun banter crucially reflects their experiences with money, such as their families’ differing attitudes toward allowances. Both are savers as well as givers, sharing stories about giving to charity. In one especially entertaining section, a cat and a bunny converse in money-related catchphrases that are separately defined at the bottom of each page. Stevens’ watercolors are appropriately realistic and appealing, whether depicting Mellody’s pretend bank or Elizabeth II’s butler ironing a 10-pound note. Messages about money’s use as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself, ensure that readers will think about their own purposes for their savings. Mellody and John are Black.
A variety show brimming with esoteric and practical information. (index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781536224719
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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