Cool and stylish.
Her intellectual curiosity is surpassed only by her passion for science. But what to do about her messy experiments?
Ada is speechless until she turns 3. But once she learns how to break out of her crib, there’s no stopping the kinky-haired, brown-skinned girl. “She tore through the house on a fact-finding spree.” When she does start speaking, her favorite words are “why,” “how,” and “when.” Her parents, a fashion-forward black couple who sport a variety of trendy outfits, are dumbfounded, and her older brother can only point at her in astonishment. She amazes her friends with her experiments. Ada examines all the clocks in the house, studies the solar system, and analyzes all the smells she encounters. Fortunately, her parents stop her from putting the cat in the dryer, sending her instead to the Thinking Chair. But while there, she covers the wall with formulae. What can her parents do? Instead of punishing her passion, they decide to try to understand it. “It’s all in the heart of a young scientist.” Though her plot is negligible—Ada’s parents arguably change more than she does—Beaty delightfully advocates for girls in science in her now-trademark crisply rhyming text. Roberts’ illustrations, in watercolor, pen, and ink, manage to be both smart and silly; the page compositions artfully evoke the tumult of Ada’s curiosity, filling white backgrounds with questions and clutter.
Cool and stylish. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2137-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The pictures are a weak link, but younger readers and listeners will happily take this quick dive into the sea of random...
Smooth segues provide the cement for this high-wattage, if less-than-carefully illustrated, set of animal facts.
Oswald’s cartoon images of popeyed, well-caffeinated creatures crank up the visual energy to frantic levels. Unfortunately, at the outset, they contradict the author’s correct observation that hippos’ noses are placed on the tops of their heads. In another misstep, both illustration and a thought balloon misleadingly suggest that bats can recognize a passing 747 with echolocation (their range is much, much smaller). For the most part, though, DiSiena and Eliot’s revelations are both accurate and just as detailed as they need to be to keep and hold attention. They glide from the hippo’s titular lack of buoyancy (they walk along river bottoms) to the surprising fleetness of sea turtles. From there, it’s on to jellyfish, which don’t actively swim but do flash with bioluminescence—just like fireflies. So it goes, until the parade of facts circles neatly back around to blue whales (“actually the largest animals that have ever lived”) and a closing assurance that “unlike hippos…blue whales sure can SWIM!” Though the authors supply no supportive references or leads to further information, they do tuck in an additional “Fun Fact” about each of the 14 animals at the end. A companion, Chickens Don’t Fly and Other Fun Facts, publishes simultaneously.
The pictures are a weak link, but younger readers and listeners will happily take this quick dive into the sea of random knowledge. (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-9352-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2014
Still, anatomy books for this age are scarce, and this one is relatively sturdy and amusing to browse, perhaps compensating...
A lift-the-flap board book briefly explores the anatomy and physiology of the human body.
With just 16 somewhat busy pages, this is hardly an in-depth examination of the body. Each page features a brief bit of introductory text. The first spread is a general overview, and those that follow examine different functions or parts: the brain, muscles and skeleton, circulatory system, respiratory system, digestive system, senses and, finally, the skin. Most pages feature lots of lively, round-eyed children of various races and both sexes; they include two or three flaps to lift that provide an interior view of a body part and are accompanied by related text. A few are a little confusing. One depicts and describes arteries in red and veins in blue but fails to clarify that these aren’t the actual colors within the body. Another states, “Every hour, you take in enough air to fill almost 45 balloons,” and shows a child blowing up a balloon, but that is about one quarter of the actual amount of air breathed in. A greater issue is the format; the apparent audience of young grade schoolers may not all appreciate a cardboard-paged, rounded-corner format that’s typically appropriate for much younger children.
Still, anatomy books for this age are scarce, and this one is relatively sturdy and amusing to browse, perhaps compensating for its other issues. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 8, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7534-7060-2
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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