Rich material for readers seeking scientific role models who made differences both in and beyond the lab.
The creators of Peace and Me (2018) follow up with profiles of more Nobel Prize winners…these in physics, chemistry, and medicine.
In the spirit of its predecessor, this gallery of 14 scientific greats mentions each one’s major discoveries but really focuses on obstacles they faced and their altruistic or socially responsible achievements. Marie Curie and her daughter Irene Joliot-Curie lead off, for instance, with commendations not only for their total of three Nobels, but for their work in World War I as mobile X-ray “battlefield nurses.” Similarly, instead of agreeing to help Germany make poison gas during that war, organic chemist Richard Willstätter designed protective masks and gear. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar’s mathematical insight into the formation of black holes went unrecognized for decades; headlines greeting Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin’s award for groundbreaking studies of molecular structures (“Housewife wins Nobel Prize”) show that she had more than severe arthritis to deal with. No fewer than six of the selected winners are women; all but three are or were White. In subheads to each entry and then a final summation, Winter also invites readers to think about the value of science to them as a means of making the world a better place. A fussy design and often poor contrast between text and background can make reading some profiles a challenge.
Rich material for readers seeking scientific role models who made differences both in and beyond the lab. (map) (Collective biography. 8-10)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-911373-71-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Lantana
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
A loving homage to the last baseball clown.
Max Patkin had a very long and rewarding career in baseball, but it wasn’t in the way he originally planned.
He was a good-enough pitcher to earn a place in the minor leagues. In 1942 he was sidelined by an injury and joined the Navy. After surgery he was good to go: to Hawaii to play baseball with other professional players as a way of entertaining the troops. He played with and against the likes of Pee Wee Reese and Joe DiMaggio. When DiMaggio hit a very long home run against him, Max followed him around the bases, mimicking his motions and garnering laughs and cheers from players and spectators. After the war he played in the minors again, but injuries ended his playing days. But his comic routines were remembered, and he was asked to perform at exhibition games all over the country. Everyone seemed to love his over-the-top slapstick and hilarious performances. Vernick displays warm affection for Patkin, describing his antics in amusing anecdotes that are followed by quoting his signature line, “True Story!” Bower’s colorful cartoons manage to capture the essence of Max’s goofy appearance and all-out efforts to elicit every bit of fun he could invent in the game he loved so much. It was a different time.
A loving homage to the last baseball clown. (author’s note, sources) (Picture book/ biography. 8-10)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-81377-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
Too broad to be more than a quick skim, but apt fodder for eager young prospective space travelers.
A basic look at rockets and the types of payloads they carry as they explore space and our solar system.
The single-topic spreads open with a description of Earth’s atmosphere, including where space (officially) begins, and end with under-development projects such as NASA’s Space Launch System, drones to explore the moon, and the James Webb Space telescope—“launched in 2018” reads the narrative with unjustified optimism (it’s currently scheduled to go up in early 2019). In between, the authors sweep through the history of humans and robots in space from Sputnik I and Yuri Gagarin to now-routine shuttle missions and EVAs. Krynauw adds cartoon spot art featuring a multicultural cast of children (one bearing a bindi but others with exaggeratedly angled eyes) in space gear to the many small color photos of space probes, rockets, rover vehicles, astronauts in and out of space suits, and close-up details of the International Space Station. The accompanying commentary mixes facts and explanations in easily digestible bits, with side observations from ex-astronaut Williams: “Most astronauts think ‘up’ is always above their head, and some snore in space!”
Too broad to be more than a quick skim, but apt fodder for eager young prospective space travelers. (Nonfiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-77321-013-1
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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