Definitely a case of fools rushing in, made all the funnier by its scary bits.
Two amateur explorers become stranded on a newly formed volcanic island when the fishing boat that drops them off fails to come back.
“Iceland,” the author writes, “is a small and beautiful island in the middle of nowhere” with plenty of volcanoes—including one dubbed Surtsey, newly emerged from the sea, that his grandfather and a friend one day impulsively think would be a noteworthy place to visit and photograph. And so it turns out to be despite the ground’s boot-melting heat and a total lack of food or fresh water, which become issues when their return ride fails to show up. Still, when the night turns cold, sleeping next to a volcano is a perfect idea for keeping warm, right? (“It really isn’t.”) A day and a night later, the weary explorers reach the top of a hill…and find a friendly, dark-skinned man from America waiting with a helicopter to take them back to the mainland! How’s that for wishes come true? Using a storyteller’s tricks as well as tone, Benediktsson swears there’s only one thing in his yarn that isn’t true…and that, he waits to the end to reveal, was the color of his forbear’s melty footwear. Wilson sets the hapless, light-skinned duo in a forbiddingly rocky landscape depicted in lurid hues and lines that wriggle and flow in suggestively molten ways, where lava dances “like some fire red northern lights.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Definitely a case of fools rushing in, made all the funnier by its scary bits. (maps; information on Iceland, Surtsey, and gods of Norse mythology; author’s and illustrator’s notes) (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9781646869916
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
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
An exuberant portrayal of a girl with hearing restrictions reaching for the stars.
Astrid, a spunky, smart California third grader, has great aspirations.
She will become “the first astronaut with hearing aids,” a possibility that is treated very naturally within this story, the first in a new chapter book series. Joining the Shooting Stars, an after-school club devoted to all things space, has long been part of Astrid’s “Astronomically Grand Plan.” Though Astrid wants to go to space camp, it’s expensive, but a scholarship is available for the Shooting Stars student who earns the most points for completing the STEM-oriented Astro Missions. She discovers another problem when she realizes that her best friend, Hallie, is more interested in art than in STEM and joins the Petite Picassos club. How can Astrid navigate Shooting Stars without her BFF, especially when she and her teammate Veejay don’t start out well? Club teacher Ms. Ruiz stresses creativity and partnership, and math and science enthusiasts will be attracted to this book, but the real emphasis is on relationships. Astrid must befriend Hallie again after voicing her disappointment with her interests and learn to be a good teammate. Astrid is likable, and her story, told in first person, realistically explores her hearing issues, her initial problem-solving failures, and her successes. Black-and-white illustrations depict Astrid (wearing her hearing aids) and her family as light-skinned, though other students appear to be racially diverse, and Hallie is cued as Asian.
An exuberant portrayal of a girl with hearing restrictions reaching for the stars. (Chapter book. 7-10)Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5344-8148-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
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