A useful, engaging, and clearly delineated distillation of a complex geological process.
From rock to mature mountain in nine steps—and millions of years!
An engaging raccoon narrator, a companion woodpecker, and a girl with medium brown skin and puffy ponytails guide readers on a challenging mountain-making journey. First, readers must find a “supercolossal” rock and push it into another giant rock so that it will “crumple into folds,” as happens in the process known as continental collision. Other steps include carving waterways, creating an alpine glacier that will sculpt the mountain and its valleys, melting the glacier, forming mountain soil, adding plant life, and introducing animals. Object lessons using familiar items and hands-on activities make the narrative accessible. The text uses comparisons to aid comprehension: Tectonic plates “move about as fast as your fingernails grow.” Pencil, gouache, and digital artwork in soft earth and forest tones shows a mountain forming page by page. Some illustrations, like a double-page spread showing how vegetation varies according to altitude, serve as friendly annotated diagrams. Making a mountain is hard work, but the raccoon guide sprinkles topical humor throughout. An unexpected encounter with a crocodile ancestor in the Arctic adds interest. The final step is all about enjoying the mountain and protecting it through stream cleanups, trail maintenance, and hiker education. The backmatter includes a glossary of mountain features. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A useful, engaging, and clearly delineated distillation of a complex geological process. (afterword) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 17, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7588-1
Page Count: 68
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2022
Lighthearted and informative, though the premise may be a bit stretched.
An amiable introduction to our thrifty, sociable, teeming insect cousins.
Bunting notes that all the ants on Earth weigh roughly the same as all the people and observes that ants (like, supposedly, us) love recycling, helping others, and taking “micronaps.” They, too, live in groups, and their “superpower” is an ability to work together to accomplish amazing things. Bunting goes on to describe different sorts of ants within the colony (“Drone. Male. Does no housework. Takes to the sky. Reproduces. Drops dead”), how they communicate using pheromones, and how they get from egg to adult. He concludes that we could learn a lot from them that would help us leave our planet in better shape than it was when we arrived. If he takes a pass on mentioning a few less positive shared traits (such as our tendency to wage war on one another), still, his comparisons do invite young readers to observe the natural world more closely and to reflect on our connections to it. In the simple illustrations, generic black ants look up at viewers with little googly eyes while scurrying about the pages gathering food, keeping nests clean, and carrying outsized burdens.
Lighthearted and informative, though the premise may be a bit stretched. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9780593567784
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
Informative yet optimistic, this cri du coeur from Planet Awesome deserves wide attention.
The sixth in McAnulty’s Our Universe series focuses on Earth’s human-caused problems, offering some family-level activities for mitigation.
Vivaciously narrated by “Planet Awesome,” the text establishes facts about how Earth’s location with regard to the sun allows life to flourish, the roles of the ocean and atmosphere, and the distinctions between weather and climate. McAnulty clearly explains how people have accelerated climate change “because so many human things need energy.” Soft-pedaling, she avoids overt indictment of fossil fuels: “Sometimes energy leads to dirty water, dirty land, and dirty air.” Dire changes are afoot: “Some land is flooding. Other land is too dry—and hot. YIKES! Not good.” “And when I’m in trouble, Earthlings are in trouble, too.” Litchfield’s engaging art adds important visual information where the perky text falls short. On one spread, a factory complex spews greenhouse gases in three plumes, each identified by the chemical symbols for carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. Throughout, planet Earth is appealingly represented with animated facial features and arms—one green, one blue. The palette brightens and darkens in sync with the text’s respective messages of hope and alarm. Final pages introduce alternative energy sources—wind, hydro, solar, and “human power—that’s from your own two feet.” Lastly, Earth provides excellent ideas for hyperlocal change, from buying less new stuff to planting trees. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Informative yet optimistic, this cri du coeur from Planet Awesome deserves wide attention. (author’s note, numerical facts, atmospheric facts, ideas for action, sources) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-78249-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
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