The authors of the classic Third Planet (1994) narrow their focus to examine the Earth’s oxygen and carbon cycles, and how human monkeying with them has created troubling signs of a destabilized climate. The narrative’s tone is less alarmist than most recent looks at global warming, but still threaded with lively language—“As the mouse digests the leaf, our carbon atom is yanked off the sugar molecule and two oxygen atoms are plunked on it”—and well stocked with both recent scientific findings and big, clear color photos. Photo captions nicely provide additional information that expands on the argument provided by the primary text: Beneath a close-up of a very photogenic pika, the caption reads, “if the temperature rises above 31°C…even for an hour they will die.” The topic is getting plenty of attention elsewhere, but this cogently argued, handsomely packaged companion to the easier and more activity-oriented Mission: Save the Planet (2009) will leave readers understanding just why it would be a good idea to be concerned. (index, resource list) (Nonfiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: March 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59643-310-6
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Flash Point/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In this abridged and illustrated version of his Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), Bryson invites a younger crowd of seekers on a tour of time, space and science—from the Big Bang and the birth of the solar system to the growth and study of life on Earth. The single-topic spreads are adorned with cartoon portraits of scientists, explorers and (frequently) the author himself, which go with small nature photos and the occasional chart or cutaway view. Though occasionally subject to sweeping and dubious statements—“There’s no chance we could ever make a journey through the solar system”—Bryson makes a genial guide (“for you to be here now, trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to come together in a complicated and obliging manner to create you”), and readers with even a flicker of curiosity in their souls about Big Ideas will come away sharing his wonder at living in such a “fickle and eventful universe.” (index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-385-73810-1
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009
Miranda’s book counts the monsters gathering at a birthday party, while a simple rhyming text keeps the tally and surveys the action: “Seven starved monsters are licking the dishes./Eight blow out candles and make birthday wishes.” The counting proceeds to ten, then by tens to fifty, then gradually returns to one, which makes the monster’s mother, a purple pin-headed octopus, very happy. The book is surprisingly effective due to Powell’s artwork; the color has texture and density, as if it were poured onto the page, but the real attention-getter is the singularity of every monster attendee. They are highly individual and, therefore, eminently countable. As the numbers start crawling upward, it is both fun and a challenge to try to recognize monsters who have appeared in previous pages, or to attempt to stay focused when counting the swirling or bunched creatures. The story has glints of humor, and in combination with the illustrations is a grand addition to the counting shelf. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201835-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
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