A playful, scientifically rich immersion in a habitat few kids will ever see.
A year in the life of Antarctica’s sea ice reveals a habitat that is anything but barren.
The latest entry in Hevron’s engaging Tiny Habitats series traces a full seasonal cycle in the Southern Ocean, following the pack ice (“a type of sea ice…made up of free-floating ice floes that expand and contract seasonally”) as summer sun melts it into an “island paradise” teeming with life and winter cold reknits it into a “frozen blanket.” The rhythmic, alliterative text pairs an inviting read-aloud cadence with a solid science lesson structured around a month-by-month calendar that quietly teaches how polar seasons work. Phytoplankton bloom, krill multiply into “millions and trillions,” and a food chain assembles itself up to the Antarctic blue whale. Playful speech bubbles do double duty, adding humor while slipping in facts. A rock cod cries, “This place is rockin’!”; a cetacean exclaims, “It’s a blue whale buffet!” The illustrations, created with acrylic, marker, and pencil and digitally collaged, use cross-sections that show life above and below the ice simultaneously, with textured floes and luminous swirled auroras. In a spread depicting the pack ice melting, splintering ice channels carry the animals apart across the page, composition doing the narrative work. Generous backmatter includes an illustrated glossary of species, an author’s note on pack ice and climate change, additional reading, and sourced references.
A playful, scientifically rich immersion in a habitat few kids will ever see. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2026
ISBN: 9781665962698
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on.
Sharpson offers so-fish-ticated readers a heads up about the true terror of the seas.
The title says it all. Our unseen narrator is just fine with other animals: mammals. Reptiles. Even birds. But fish? Don’t trust them! First off, the rules always seem to change with fish. Some live in fresh water; some reside in salt water. Some have gills, while others have lungs. You can never see what they’re up to, since they hang out underwater, and they’re always eating those poor, innocent crabs. Soon, the narrator introduces readers to Jeff, a vacant-eyed yellow fish—but don’t be fooled! Jeff’s “the craftiest fish of all.” All fish are, apparently, hellbent on world domination, the narrator warns. “DON’T TRUST FISH!” Finally, at the tail end, we get a sly glimpse of our unreliable narrator. Readers needn’t be ichthyologists to appreciate Sharpson’s meticulous comic timing. (“Ships always sink at sea. They never sink on land. Isn’t that strange?”) His delightful text, filled to the brim with jokes that read aloud brilliantly, pairs perfectly with Santat’s art, which shifts between extreme realism and goofy hilarity. He also fills the book with his own clever gags (such as an image of Gilligan’s Island’s S.S. Minnow going down and a bottle of sauce labeled “Surly Chik’n Srir’racha’r”).
A ribald and uproarious warning to those unschooled in fishy goings-on. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780593616673
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
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