A watertight addition to the venerable Let's Read and Find Out collection. (websites) (Informational picture book. 6-9)
A straightforward dive into the watery abyss, with passing views of some select exotic residents.
Starting at the tide line, Zoehfeld squires two young explorers—light-skinned, in Puybaret’s steadily darkening paintings (though an initial crowd of beach visitors shows more color range)—into the deep. They go from ankle-deep waters to scuba territory and then in a submersible on down to the Hadal Zone’s pitch-black depths. Along with helpful signposts (“YOU HAVE REACHED THE TWILIGHT ZONE”) and a digestible quantity of identifying labels, budding naturalists will find matter-of-fact descriptions of characteristic creatures at each level, with special focus on the adaptations that allow them to survive. Highlights (lowlights?) include close-ups of giant tube worms clustered around a hydrothermal vent and a dramatic encounter between a giant squid and a sperm whale. A pair of low-effort science activities and a glimpse at how ocean depths have been measured round out the expedition. Readers will surface with not only a better understanding of the diversity of ocean life, but a firmer grasp of how little we really know about vasty deeps that have seen fewer human visitors than has space.
A watertight addition to the venerable Let's Read and Find Out collection. (websites) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-232820-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look...
Winning actually isn’t everything, as jazz-happy Rooster learns when he goes up against the legendary likes of Mules Davis and Ella Finchgerald at the barnyard talent show.
Having put together a band with renowned cousin Duck Ellington and singer “Bee” Holiday, Rooster’s chances sure look good—particularly after his “ ‘Hen from Ipanema’ [makes] / the barnyard chickies swoon.”—but in the end the competition is just too stiff. No matter: A compliment from cool Mules and the conviction that he still has the world’s best band soon puts the strut back in his stride. Alexander’s versifying isn’t always in tune (“So, he went to see his cousin, / a pianist of great fame…”), and despite his moniker Rooster plays an electric bass in Bower’s canted country scenes. Children are unlikely to get most of the jokes liberally sprinkled through the text, of course, so the adults sharing it with them should be ready to consult the backmatter, which consists of closing notes on jazz’s instruments, history and best-known musicians.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58536-688-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2011
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