A well-crafted blend of science and playful interactivity that proves learning can be an adventure.
This latest addition to the Science Explorers series invites youngsters on a fun, Choose Your Own Adventure–style mycological expedition.
Readers must make critical decisions at every turn, from selecting between climbing and tech gear to picking out potential locales across the globe—among them national parks in India, Ecuador, or Hawai’i. Each choice branches into new pathways with varying outcomes, some successful, others less so but edifying all the same. The comic panels and infographic-heavy layout, awash in color, organize dense scientific information into digestible, visually dynamic spreads. Team members—from research assistants to expert mycologists—deliver facts naturally, avoiding the didactic tone that plagues lesser STEM titles. Informational sidebars explain fungi fundamentals (they’re neither plants nor animals!) while maintaining narrative momentum. Characters, apparently all of color, vary in complexion, ability, and size, allowing a range of readers to envision themselves donning lab coats and hiking boots and joining the crew. Technical vocabulary and concepts such as DNA extraction are contextualized, and the interactive element will encourage repeated readings as children return to explore every possible route. Musser’s vibrant illustrations of rainforest ecosystems, laboratory equipment, and magnified fungal specimens transform potentially dry mycological concepts into eye-catching discoveries. Extensive backmatter provides additional depth for curious minds.
A well-crafted blend of science and playful interactivity that proves learning can be an adventure. (glossary, bibliography, further reading, websites, more information on the fungi, plants, and animals mentioned) (Nonfiction. 6-9)Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781797213941
Page Count: 100
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe.
An introduction to gravity.
The book opens with the most iconic demonstration of gravity, an apple falling. Throughout, Herz tackles both huge concepts—how gravity compresses atoms to form stars and how black holes pull all kinds of matter toward them—and more concrete ones: how gravity allows you to jump up and then come back down to the ground. Gravity narrates in spare yet lyrical verse, explaining how it creates planets and compresses atoms and comparing itself to a hug. “My embrace is tight enough that you don’t float like a balloon, but loose enough that you can run and leap and play.” Gravity personifies itself at times: “I am stubborn—the bigger things are, the harder I pull.” Beautiful illustrations depict swirling planets and black holes alongside racially diverse children playing, running, and jumping, all thanks to gravity. Thorough backmatter discusses how Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity and explains Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. While at times Herz’s explanations may be a bit too technical for some readers, burgeoning scientists will be drawn in.
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe. (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: April 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668936849
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature.
In a new entry in the Over and Under series, a paddleboarder glimpses humpback whales leaping, floats over a populous kelp forest, and explores life on a beach and in a tide pool.
In this tale inspired by Messner’s experiences in Monterey Bay in California, a young tan-skinned narrator, along with their light-skinned mom and tan-skinned dad, observes in quiet, lyrical language sights and sounds above and below the sea’s serene surface. Switching perspectives and angles of view and often leaving the family’s red paddleboards just tiny dots bobbing on distant swells, Neal’s broad seascapes depict in precise detail bat stars and anchovies, kelp bass, and sea otters going about their business amid rocky formations and the swaying fronds of kelp…and, further out, graceful moon jellies and—thrillingly—massive whales in open waters beneath gliding pelicans and other shorebirds. After returning to the beach at day’s end to search for shells and to spot anemones and decorator crabs, the child ends with nighttime dreams of stars in the sky meeting stars in the sea. Appended nature notes on kelp and 21 other types of sealife fill in details about patterns and relationships in this rich ecosystem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79720-347-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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