Irresistible science.
Why is it that some animals eat poop but we find it gross?
Using a variety of examples, the author illustrates that coprophagy, the consumption of feces, is not uncommon among animals—and that poop eaters have good reasons for this seemingly disgusting habit. The main narrative is simple enough for fledgling readers, while explanatory text boxes on each spread add more specific information for more advanced readers. Animals eat, or at least engage with, feces to strengthen their eggs, to clean their babies’ nests, to encourage their young to pee and poop themselves, or even as part of their digestive process. For dung beetles, it’s their diet, and for our own pets…who knows? Maybe they just like the taste! Cheerful cartoon animals slurp puddles of poop, carry fecal sacks (depicted as white tied bundles), lick their babies’ backsides, and seem to enjoy a variety of poop pellets. Stylized humans with varying skin tones and hair colors, however, turn up their noses no matter how it’s served. We don’t eat poop because our bodies don’t need it; indeed, it might make us sick. Levine knows how to grab young readers’ attention and explain science topics simply but effectively. And while Weiser’s illustrations are entertaining, they’re also enlightening—her digestive system diagrams are particularly edifying. There’s even more information about the subject in the backmatter, pictures for aspiring “poop detectives,” and plenty of poopy words.
Irresistible science. (further reading) (Informational picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9781728457963
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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