A glowing celebration of life, of time, and of how every part of creation connects with every other.
What we are all made of, from a universal perspective.
As Westerfeld rightly points out in his debut picture book, we join every living thing in being composed of rain and sunshine, of iron and certain other elements in “stones and soil”—all of which our DNA endows with the “ticktock of the living world.” “Some of you was waiting deep in the earth, / ready to be drawn up by the roots of plants,” he muses. He goes on to unpack these lyrically presented notions in the afterword, explaining how DNA chemically codes everybody’s plan, that all living things are largely water, and that most depend on the sun’s energy in direct and indirect ways. In luminous watercolor and gouache illustrations, Lanan follows a brown-skinned family as they stroll past fruit trees and over puddles and hidden roots in an idealized landscape. As the seasons wheel by in their cycles, the mother shows increasing signs of pregnancy. Eventually, her older child watches wide-eyed as she nurses a newborn beneath a radiant burst of flowers; the child goes on to play joyfully in the snow and, in the summer, with the growing little sibling.
A glowing celebration of life, of time, and of how every part of creation connects with every other. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9781250799326
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature.
In a new entry in the Over and Under series, a paddleboarder glimpses humpback whales leaping, floats over a populous kelp forest, and explores life on a beach and in a tide pool.
In this tale inspired by Messner’s experiences in Monterey Bay in California, a young tan-skinned narrator, along with their light-skinned mom and tan-skinned dad, observes in quiet, lyrical language sights and sounds above and below the sea’s serene surface. Switching perspectives and angles of view and often leaving the family’s red paddleboards just tiny dots bobbing on distant swells, Neal’s broad seascapes depict in precise detail bat stars and anchovies, kelp bass, and sea otters going about their business amid rocky formations and the swaying fronds of kelp…and, further out, graceful moon jellies and—thrillingly—massive whales in open waters beneath gliding pelicans and other shorebirds. After returning to the beach at day’s end to search for shells and to spot anemones and decorator crabs, the child ends with nighttime dreams of stars in the sky meeting stars in the sea. Appended nature notes on kelp and 21 other types of sealife fill in details about patterns and relationships in this rich ecosystem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79720-347-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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