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TAKE ANOTHER LOOK

Name: TAKE ANOTHER LOOK
Author: Tana Hoban
ISBN: 0688802982

by Tana Hoban ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1981

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Perhaps the magic of Tana Hoban's Look Again!, a 1971 event, was not to be recaptured: that first glimpse, through a die-cut hole, of a fuzzy, starry, mysterious something; overleaf, the perfect head of a dandelion gone to seed; on the reverse, an intent black child, lips pursed, blowing. But if the drama of discovery is not to be replicated, one wonders what, here, prompted another go at the format altogether—for instead of a series of vivid, distinct triggering images (a zebra's stripes, the whorls of a snail shell, a peacock's fan of feathers), we have mostly less vivid, less distinct, guess-what allover textures and patterns—bread, a sponge, a grater—plus some less clear-cut equivalents of the first batch (e.g., a reptile's skin in lieu of the underside of a turtle) and just one bull's-eye: the spokes of an umbrella. What best conveys the difference, perhaps, is the head of the daisy here vs. the head of the sunflower in Look Again!—the same thing, but less arresting in magnification or in toto. (That's also true of the center of the apple here vs. the center of the pear before.) There's still some pleasure in the encounter, of course, but less variety, imagination, or resonance.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1981

ISBN: 0688802982

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Review Posted Online: April 29, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1981

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
CUBES, CONES, CYLINDERS, & SPHERES
by Tana Hoban

- BOOK REVIEW
SO MANY CIRCLES, SO MANY SQUARES
by Tana Hoban & illustrated by Tana Hoban

- BOOK REVIEW
CONSTRUCTION ZONE
by Tana Hoban & illustrated by Tana Hoban

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HOW TO WRITE A STORY

by Kate Messner ; illustrated by Mark Siegel ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2020

A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist.

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This follow-up to How To Read a Story (2005) shows a child going through the steps of creating a story, from choosing an idea through sharing with friends.

A young black child lies in a grassy field writing in a journal, working on “Step 1 / Search for an Idea— / a shiny one.” During a walk to the library, various ideas float in colorful thought bubbles, with exclamation points: “playing soccer! / dogs!” Inside the library, less-distinct ideas, expressed as shapes and pictures, with question marks, float about as the writer collects ideas to choose from. The young writer must then choose a setting, a main character, and a problem for that protagonist. Plotting, writing with detail, and revising are described in child-friendly terms and shown visually, in the form of lists and notes on faux pieces of paper. Finally, the writer sits in the same field, in a new season, sharing the story with friends. The illustrations feature the child’s writing and drawing as well as images of imagined events from the book in progress bursting off the page. The child’s main character is an adventurous mermaid who looks just like the child, complete with afro-puff pigtails, representing an affirming message about writing oneself into the world. The child’s family, depicted as black, moves in the background of the setting, which is also populated by a multiracial cast.

A lovely encouragement to young writers to persist. (Informational picture book. 6-10)

Pub Date: July 7, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-4521-5666-8

Page Count: 36

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NEXT SCIENTIST
by Kate Messner ; illustrated by Julia Kuo

- BOOK REVIEW
OVER AND UNDER THE WETLAND
by Kate Messner ; illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal

- BOOK REVIEW
EMMA MCKENNA, FULL OUT
by Kate Messner ; illustrated by Kat Fajardo

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PROFESSOR ASTRO CAT'S SPACE ROCKETS

From the Professor Astro Cat series

by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018

Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.

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The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.

Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.

Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)