This is a fun and easy-to-follow children’s guide to STEM with a precocious but likable central character.
The Salzmans’ debut picture book introduces kids—whether home-schooled or taught in the classroom—to the wonders of a STEM education.
The central character here, 8-year-old Nina, takes the reader through her daily regimen of home-school adventures. Each day, she participates in a new activity—studying nature on Monday or listening to classical music and painting on Thursday. Along with each new activity, interesting facts are dispensed alongside suggestions for reader participation. For example, Newton’s third law of motion encourages readers to throw a pillow up in the air to observe the effects of gravity, or one can burrow like a firefly under blankets to learn about hibernation. Whether she’s meeting up with fellow home-school classmates or taking a field trip to an amusement park, Nina’s excitement about learning is undeniably contagious. The bright, colorful illustrations (by 15-year-old West) help kids visualize often difficult concepts like states of matter and different forms of energy like potential and kinetic, while the text’s rhyme scheme (“On weekends, Nina camps in bed. No school today, a fort instead”) keeps the action moving. Also, the fonts of certain words are often cleverly designed to complement the word’s meaning (for example, the word erupts appears to have lava spurting out of it). As the authors suggest, this book should initially be read from beginning to end quickly in order to appreciate the rhythmic flow of the words. There are even experiments that demonstrate things like heat flow and light observation and a model weekly STEM plan so readers can set goals just like Nina.
This is a fun and easy-to-follow children’s guide to STEM with a precocious but likable central character.Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2022
ISBN: 9798985828511
Page Count: 34
Publisher: Colby Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude.
A deceptively simple, visually appealing, comprehensive explanation of volcanoes.
Gibbons packs an impressive number of facts into this browsable nonfiction picture book. The text begins with the awe of a volcanic eruption: “The ground begins to rumble…ash, hot lava and rock, and gases shoot up into the air.” Diagrams of the Earth’s structural layers—inner and outer core, mantle, and crust—undergird a discussion about why volcanoes occur. Simple maps of the Earth’s seven major tectonic plates show where volcanoes are likeliest to develop. Other spreads with bright, clearly labeled illustrations cover intriguing subtopics: four types of volcanoes and how they erupt; underwater volcanoes; well-known volcanoes and historic volcanic eruptions around the world; how to be safe in the vicinity of a volcano; and the work of scientists studying volcanoes and helping to predict eruptions. A page of eight facts about volcanoes wraps things up. The straightforward, concise prose will be easy for young readers to follow. As always, Gibbons manages to present a great deal of information in a compact form.
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude. (Nonfiction picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4569-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
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
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