bookshelf

HOW DO YOU MAKE A BABY?

Name: HOW DO YOU MAKE A BABY?
Author: Anna Fiske
ISBN: 978-1-776572-85-4

by Anna Fiske ; illustrated by Anna Fiske ; translated by Don Bartlett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 4, 2020

Answers an often difficult question with humor and even grace.

bookshelf

Finally: a “where do babies come from” book that doesn’t mince words—or pictures. This frank, cartoon-illustrated picture book answers its titular question with Scandinavian directness. “People in love enjoy being as close as possible. They hug, kiss and touch each other.” So far this is much like many others of its ilk, but then: “To get even closer they take off their clothes and hug. When Papa’s penis is in Mama’s vagina they’re as close as two people can be.” Illustrating this is a goofy cartoon of nude sexual partners, the penis uttering a cheery “Hello!” and the vagina responding, “Come in!” It’s as far from prurient as can be imagined. In vitro fertilization and the unpredictable timeline of typical fertilization are both addressed before the book moves on to pregnancy and birth, the latter of which is visually presented as directly as intercourse was. Internal views of swimming sperm and gestating babies speak to the science of conception and pregnancy. Adults and babies are racially diverse; while the emphasis is on opposite-sex partnership and parenthood, same-sex couples are present in both text and pictures. Gender identity goes unmentioned, as does gestational surrogacy, and the one page on adoption cannot begin to encompass its complexity. The text’s mild cheekiness balances the informational load and should ease shared read-alouds in families unaccustomed to this book’s straightforwardness. Answers an often difficult question with humor and even grace. (Informational picture book. 8-12)

Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-776572-85-4

Page Count: 80

Publisher: Gecko Press

Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HEALTH & DAILY LIVING | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

bookshelf

MY FIRST BOOK OF QUANTUM PHYSICS

by Sheddad Kaid-Salah Ferrón ; illustrated by Eduard Altarriba ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2018

Nominally aimed at children 8 and up, this may have more appeal to parents of graduates of Baby University and like series.

bookshelf

In all, probability.

In bright and stylishly retro, if unsystematic, fashion, Ferrón and Altarriba present our current bewildering picture of reality. They start with Newton and his laws, then forge ahead in not particularly chronological order past: Planck’s notion of quanta, the discovery of the photon, subatomic particles and anti-particles, molecules, the uncertainty principle, quantum entanglement, Marie Curie’s work, the tunnel effect, the Standard Model, and the recently verified Higgs boson. In their haste to cover so much they sometimes neglect to define or explain terms when first used, make a misleadingly backward claim that the “higher the frequency of a photon, the more energy it will have,” and include data such as atomic weights in a periodic table and mass numbers for the 16 types of particles (e.g., “=2.4 Me/c2” for up quarks) without comment or explanation. They also show a tendency to anthropomorphize (“Some atoms have such a big nucleus that they start to feel ‘UNCOMFORTABLE’ ”), close with a timeline that contains a certain amount of unexplained new material, and finish off with a spread of untranslated equations and constants. If not enlightenment—an elusive goal—readers will come away with plenty of new vocabulary, plus nodding acquaintances with Einstein and other greats, Schrödinger’s cat, and the central role of quantum physics in current and future tech.

Nominally aimed at children 8 and up, this may have more appeal to parents of graduates of Baby University and like series. (Informational picture book. 8-12)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-78708-013-3

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Button Books

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
MY FIRST BOOK OF THE COSMOS
by Sheddad Kaid-Salah Ferrón ; illustrated by Eduard Altarriba

WHEN FISH GOT FEET, SHARKS GOT TEETH, AND BUGS BEGAN TO SWARM

bookshelf

WHEN FISH GOT FEET, SHARKS GOT TEETH, AND BUGS BEGAN TO SWARM

A CARTOON PREHISTORY OF LIFE LONG BEFORE DINOSAURS

From the When… series , Vol. 2

by Hannah Bonner & illustrated by Hannah Bonner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 9, 2007

bookshelf

The author of When Bugs Were Big, Plants Were Strange, and Tetrapods Stalked the Earth (2003) continues her droll but dependable tour of deep prehistory, focusing here on the flora, fauna and fungi of the Silurian and Devonian Periods, approximately 360 to 44 million years ago. This was the time when larger forms of life began to emerge on land, while, among the far richer variety of marine animals, fish wriggled to the top, thanks to newly developed jaws which allowed them “to say good-bye to a monotonous diet of teensy stuff. Now fish could grab, slice and dice to their heart’s content.” By the end, soil, forests and, of course, feet had also appeared. Fearlessly folding in tongue-challenging names and mixing simply drawn reconstructions and maps with goofy flights of fancy—on the first spread Robin Mite and Friar Millipede are caught on a stroll through Sherwood Moss Patch, and on the last, genial nautiloid Amphicyrtoceras plugs the previous volume—Bonner serves up a second heaping course of science that will both stick to the ribs and tickle them. (index, resource lists, time line) (Nonfiction. 8-12)