A geo-hodgepodge, wearisome despite its planetary scope and a resolutely international outlook.
On oversized pages, top-to-bottom journeys through first our planet and then its oceans.
As itineraries go, neither outing is particularly well-organized. The land portion begins with clusters of nematodes and suchlike small subsurface dwellers—all accompanied by labels and, often, a descriptive comment—and goes on to teeming galleries of other diggers, including row after row of root vegetables. A series of human-built works in cross section follows, and then the book digs past plate tectonics to plunge into the mantle and so down to the planet’s core. In a switch that makes more poetic than physical sense, the orientation then reverses, so that turning the page begins a journey from the bottom of the Marianas Trench on up. That progress isn’t any steadier, as artificially dense crowds of exotic deep-sea fish give way to oil rigs and undersea vessels of diverse design, then finally select reef and freshwater-lake denizens. The unwieldy volume comes with two title pages (and covers), so voyagers can start from either end. Either way, though, the going takes on a monotonous quality, as the hundreds of creatures and structures are drawn in the same flat, cartoon style (rarely to scale) and so shoveled-in among balloons of commentary that many spreads look overstuffed. The skin tones of human figures vary from white to light brown.
A geo-hodgepodge, wearisome despite its planetary scope and a resolutely international outlook. (Informational picture book. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-78370-364-7
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Big Picture/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
This suspenseful, undersea dystopia should keep middle schoolers hooked.
Several centuries after global warming has devastated the planet, a tyrannical government has taken control of the West Coast of America.
In a small seaside community in what was Southern California, Nere lives with her scientist mother and a pod of trained dolphins. Unbeknownst to Nere, her parents have genetically engineered her and several other children to breathe under water so they can live free there someday. When the government announces its intention to move the entire community inland, Nere’s mother finishes the alterations on the children and sends them away into the sea, where they will try to join Nere’s father’s colony for these new “Neptune children.” Nere and her friends, along with their friendly dolphins, must make their way there under the sea while fighting sharks and avoiding capture by government forces. They communicate telepathically, and Nere is even able to talk with the dolphins. Together with other Neptune children from Southern California, they head north, hiding and fighting all the way. Holyoke keeps her prose well-pitched to her audience, providing enough violence and even death to create suspense but muting it appropriately. She creates an interesting and diverse set of characters, including the dolphins. The science-fiction elements are nothing new, but they are built on good information about oceanography.
This suspenseful, undersea dystopia should keep middle schoolers hooked. (Science fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: May 21, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4231-5756-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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