A fresh, scientific look at one aspect of the incredible human body. (Informational picture book. 4-8)
Math and science enthusiasts, this one’s for you!
Fishman and Greenberg, the author and illustrator team of A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars (2017), take readers on a journey through the amazing human body, noting that a pinkie finger “has enough energy to light up one of the biggest cities in the world for an entire day.” This informational book explains how the body produces, expends, and recharges energy through such activities as eating, sleeping, and exercising. The author’s note at the end focuses not on what the characters have been doing throughout the book but on Einstein’s equation E=mc2. In child-friendly language, the note explains what an equation is, how Einstein used this one to solve tough problems, and how all of this relates to the body’s energy. While this book could effectively be used in school lessons about energy, kids likely study Einstein’s equation much later in school than this book’s target audience. Greenberg’s multicultural cast of characters models different aspects of the body’s use of energy, the primary character being a black girl with her hair in two puffballs. While most of the characters have strangely angular features, the stark color contrasts and interesting facts will keep readers engaged. Parents and kids alike will appreciate the book’s exhortation to stay curious.
A fresh, scientific look at one aspect of the incredible human body. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: March 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-245579-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
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BOOK REVIEW
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer.
Rotner follows up her celebrations of spring and autumn with this look at all things winter.
Beginning with the signs that winter is coming—bare trees, shorter days, colder temperatures—Rotner eases readers into the season. People light fires and sing songs on the solstice, trees and plants stop growing, and shadows grow long. Ice starts to form on bodies of water and windows. When the snow flies, the fun begins—bundle up and then build forts, make snowballs and snowmen (with eyebrows!), sled, ski (nordic is pictured), skate, snowshoe, snowboard, drink hot chocolate. Animals adapt to the cold as well. “Birds grow more feathers” (there’s nothing about fluffing and air insulation) and mammals, more hair. They have to search for food, and Rotner discusses how many make or find shelter, slow down, hibernate, or go underground or underwater to stay warm. One page talks about celebrating holidays with lights and decorations. The photos show a lit menorah, an outdoor deciduous tree covered in huge Christmas bulbs, a girl next to a Chinese dragon head, a boy with lit luminarias, and some fireworks. The final spread shows signs of the season’s shift to spring. Rotner’s photos, as always, are a big draw. The children are a marvelous mix of cultures and races, and all show their clear delight with winter.
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3976-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
Enticing and eco-friendly.
Why and how to make a rain garden.
Having watched through their classroom window as a “rooftop-rushing, gutter-gushing” downpour sloppily flooded their streets and playground, several racially diverse young children follow their tan-skinned teacher outside to lay out a shallow drainage ditch beneath their school’s downspout, which leads to a patch of ground, where they plant flowers (“native ones with tough, thick roots,” Schaub specifies) to absorb the “mucky runoff” and, in time, draw butterflies and other wildlife. The author follows up her lilting rhyme with more detailed explanations of a rain garden’s function and construction, including a chart to help determine how deep to make the rain garden and a properly cautionary note about locating a site’s buried utility lines before starting to dig; she concludes with a set of leads to online information sources. Gómez goes more for visual appeal than realism. In her scenes, a group of smiling, round-headed, very small children in rain gear industriously lay large stones along a winding border with little apparent effort; nevertheless, her images of the little ones planting generic flowers that are tall and lush just a page turn later do make the outdoorsy project look like fun.
Enticing and eco-friendly. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781324052357
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Norton Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
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