Jazzy, loud illustrations command—and merit—attention but can’t hide a higgledy-piggledy presentation.
A visual survey of the aural world, originally published in Ukraine.
Despite the ostensible topic, it’s the art and page design that occupy center stage in this large-format showcase. Done by and large in montages with much use of hot and Day-Glo hues, each eye-catching scene features a mix of flat or minimally modeled images of musical instruments and other sound producers, animal or human silhouettes, and graphic representations of sonic waves, lines, bursts, or blasts. Following a hard-to-parse observation that sound “attracts our attention, we listen for it—and then, we hear it” with a diagram of a human ear, double-page spreads arranged in no obvious order tally, for example, types of sound from natural to body noises, kinds of human singing voices and recording formats, how sound is measured, music-related jobs, spoken language and sign language. Most of the captions are printed in a lightweight, low-contrast typeface only a bit darker than the backgrounds, and some seem to have been arbitrarily swept to the backmatter, replaced by asterisks. After a thunderous rainfall evoked by solid, polychrome lines of streaming onomatopoeia, the volume is switched to low with a “mute sound” icon on an empty spread that leads to closing scenes of a couple embracing, a pregnant mother, and a young child toddling out “to listen, to hear, and to perceive our world."
Jazzy, loud illustrations command—and merit—attention but can’t hide a higgledy-piggledy presentation. (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7978-0
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Handprint/Chronicle
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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
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
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