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: yesterday
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
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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