A satisfying selection of nature’s survivors for readers intrigued by the animal world.
Over the millennia many creatures have come and gone, but six unusual animals have survived and changed very little.
From numerous possibilities, Hirsch has chosen six examples of animals that could be called “living fossils,” although she makes clear that, like other life on Earth, they’ve evolved over time. In choosing, she also looked for animals with uncommon traits, highlighted in her descriptions. Her selections—horseshoe crabs from the Atlantic coast, chambered nautilus from the Indian and Pacific oceans, West African lungfish, tuatara from New Zealand, duck-billed platypus from Australia, and selenodon from Hispaniola—are a combination of familiar and surprising. Each animal gets two or three spreads, including a full-page photograph, a nicely written introduction, and a box with fast facts. Photos are nicely captioned, but they don’t always indicate magnification. An introductory chapter covers the theories of evolution and natural selection and discusses the way a living fossil, such as the velvet worm, still so like Aysheaia from the Cambrian era, actually has evolved. It includes a timeline. A final spread reminds readers that living fossils, who’ve survived major extinctions, are threatened again by a human-caused sixth. Well-organized, clearly written, nicely designed, and including new research, this will be welcomed in libraries, even those already owning Caroline Arnold’s Living Fossils: Clues to the Past, illustrated by Andrew Plant (2016), which describes some of the same intriguing creatures. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.875-by-21.25-inch double-page spreads viewed at 56.6% of actual size.)
A satisfying selection of nature’s survivors for readers intrigued by the animal world. (author's note, source notes, glossary, further resources, bibliography, index, photo acknowledgments) (Nonfiction. 9-14)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5415-8127-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Contentwise, an arbitrary assortment…but sure to draw fans of comics, of science, or of both.
Flash, Batman, and other characters from the DC Comics universe tackle supervillains and STEM-related topics and sometimes, both.
Credited to 20 writers and illustrators in various combinations, the 10 episodes invite readers to tag along as Mera and Aquaman visit oceanic zones from epipelagic to hadalpelagic; Supergirl helps a young scholar pick a science-project topic by taking her on a tour of the solar system; and Swamp Thing lends Poison Ivy a hand to describe how DNA works (later joining Swamp Kid to scuttle a climate-altering scheme by Arcane). In other episodes, various costumed creations explain the ins and outs of diverse large- and small-scale phenomena, including electricity, atomic structure, forensic techniques, 3-D printing, and the lactate threshold. Presumably on the supposition that the characters will be more familiar to readers than the science, the minilectures tend to start from simple basics, but the figures are mostly both redrawn to look more childlike than in the comics and identified only in passing. Drawing styles and page designs differ from chapter to chapter but not enough to interrupt overall visual unity and flow—and the cast is sufficiently diverse to include roles for superheroes (and villains) of color like Cyborg, Kid Flash, and the Latina Green Lantern, Jessica Cruz. Appended lists of websites and science-based YouTube channels, plus instructions for homespun activities related to each episode, point inspired STEM-winders toward further discoveries.
Contentwise, an arbitrary assortment…but sure to draw fans of comics, of science, or of both. (Graphic nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77950-382-4
Page Count: 160
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hot on the heels of the well-received Leonardo da Vinci (2005) comes another agreeably chatty entry in the Giants of Science series. Here the pioneering physicist is revealed as undeniably brilliant, but also cantankerous, mean-spirited, paranoid and possibly depressive. Newton’s youth and annus mirabilis receive respectful treatment, the solitude enforced by family estrangement and then the plague seen as critical to the development of his thoughtful, methodical approach. His subsequent squabbles with the rest of the scientific community—he refrained from publishing one treatise until his rival was dead—further support the image of Newton as a scientific lone wolf. Krull’s colloquial treatment sketches Newton’s advances in clearly understandable terms without bogging the text down with detailed explanations. A final chapter on “His Impact” places him squarely in the pantheon of great thinkers, arguing that both his insistence on the scientific method and his theories of physics have informed all subsequent scientific thought. A bibliography, web site and index round out the volume; the lack of detail on the use of sources is regrettable in an otherwise solid offering for middle-grade students. (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05921-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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