Start your engines and get ready to take off for an amazing read.
Cars that fly? Only in stories like Harry Potter or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or fantasy films, right? Nope, flying cars have been in existence since the beginning of the 1900s. Who knew?
Author-illustrator Glass departs from the world of picture books (The Wondrous Whirligig, 2003, etc.) to apply his hand to long-form nonfiction. And what a high-flying job he has done. He devotes a chapter to each of 14 visionary men who believed they could prove that cars and planes could be fused into one flying machine. First was Gustave Whitehead, who designed a bird-shaped glider named the Condor in 1901; the last was Daniel Zuck, who predicted squadrons of commuters in Plane-Mobiles. The names of their machines were as imaginative as their inventions: Henry Ford’s Sky Flivver, Harold Pitcairn’s Autogiro, and Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion car are just a sampling. The fascinating details of the dangers and difficulties each man faced read smoothly and engagingly. Glass’ research is extensive and impeccable, and the archival black-and-white photos provide visual context. All in all, it’s a tremendous narrative-nonfiction debut for a creator who’s long been associated with the 32-page format.
Start your engines and get ready to take off for an amazing read. (author’s note, glossary, source notes, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-618-98482-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
The level of violence is unrealistically low, but these purposeful vignettes add a gauzy back story to what today’s children...
In six fictional episodes directly linked to paleontological artifacts, Weaver retraces the past 2.5 million years of “hominin” (pre)history.
Framed as a modern lad’s daydreams, her reconstructions open with the short life of the Australopithecine “Taung child” and end with a supposed seasonal ritual by a group of early modern Homo sapiens in what would become Europe some 26,000 years ago. In between they offer scenes in the daily lives (and deaths) of Homo habilis, Homo erectus and Neanderthal in future Africa and the Mideast. With paintings that resemble museum-diorama backgrounds—loose, but careful with natural detail—Celeskey tracks evolutionary changes in facial features, body types and clothing (or lack thereof). As the narrative progresses, the author inserts speculative but informed touchpoints in the development of names (“Roaank Awaagh” to “Moluk of the Wolf Clan”) and language, tools and culture. Explanatory afterwords elaborate on the evidence incorporated into each chapter.
The level of violence is unrealistically low, but these purposeful vignettes add a gauzy back story to what today’s children may have only seen as a few old chipped stones and fossil bones. (resource lists) (Creative nonfiction. 10-12)Pub Date: April 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-8263-4442-7
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Univ. of New Mexico
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
Handsome, at first glance, and up to date enough to include a spread on Global Positioning Systems—but one of the dimmer...
A routine sweep through matters astronomical, more suitable (despite the title) for casual browsing than research or quick reference.
In a conventional single-topic-per-spread format, Goldsmith skims the history of astronomy and space exploration, tours the solar system and the universe beyond, then closes with glances at dark matter and other undiscovered territory. The illustrations, most of which are digital images rather than photos, have a staid look in keeping with a text that shares roughly equal space on each page and runs to drably phrased observations. “The outer layer of the Sun is full of activity, with constantly changing sunspots and other features.” Confusing oversimplifications (“The stars change throughout the year”) and some murky photos further mar the presentation. Moreover, frequent references to space films and novels, comments like “The usual fate of travelers who approach a black hole too closely is to be crushed” and views of futuristic spacecraft blur the lines between fact and fiction.
Handsome, at first glance, and up to date enough to include a spread on Global Positioning Systems—but one of the dimmer stars in the topical firmament. (print, Web and film resources) (Nonfiction. 10-12)Pub Date: May 22, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7534-6805-0
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Kingfisher
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2012
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