by Bob Raczka ; illustrated by Bryony Clarkson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 3, 2023
Cool! Snow really has the power to wow—and teaches math, too.
Snow descends mathematically.
We intuitively understand that when snow falls, huge numbers of snowflakes combine to form a white cover. This book demonstrates that there’s also a mathematical way to regard snowfall: Consider snowflakes falling in pairs, then multiply them exponentially. The book starts with two snowflakes, which increase in number over the course of the story. At the bottom of each page, a caption shows the base number 2 with an exponent—for instance, on the page labeled “Eight flakes twirl,” the caption reads “2³ = 2 to the third power / 2 x 2 x 2 = 8.” It all culminates with 2 to the 14th power, or 16,384 snowflakes. The correct number of snowflakes is depicted on each page, and when the numbers are manageable, readers may actually count them in the artwork. The text is delivered in simple, lively verse. Younger kids likely won’t get the math, not having learned multiplication yet, but they’ll appreciate fun vocabulary like swoosh and sashay. Older kids who’ve studied multiplication will understand more and appreciate learning how to multiply the same number repeatedly. The lush, textured illustrations, created from cut pieces of painted-paper collage, then assembled digitally, capture nature at its wintry best. Two children—one light-skinned, one brown-skinned—are depicted playing in the snow. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cool! Snow really has the power to wow—and teaches math, too. (what is an exponent?, illustrator’s note) (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781728450919
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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by Kari Lavelle ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2023
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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by Kari Lavelle ; illustrated by Bryan Collier
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by Kari Lavelle ; illustrated by Nabi H. Ali
by Henry Herz ; illustrated by Mercè López ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 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
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edited by Henry Herz ; illustrated by Adam Gustavson
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edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt & Henry Herz
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