A magical addition to the STEM shelf.
A precocious fairy promotes the fundamentals of science in this picture book that informs as well as it entertains.
Esther is a long-suffering fairy skeptic stuck in a world where everyone around her believes in the power of magic. Esther, who wholeheartedly believes in fact over fiction, is convinced fairy dust is dandruff, foggy omens are just condensation, and that gravity is in fact the law. When a tree begins to wilt, the young fairies all try their best wizardry to bring the sapling back to life, but Esther deduces the harm done to the tree through an experiment based on the scientific method. After discovering that the young tree merely needs sunlight, her friends are now inspired to ask questions. Of course Esther has a home library of books and materials to put them on the road to becoming good scientists. The colorful digital illustrations offer whimsical details as purple-pigtailed, brown-skinned Esther and a bird sidekick work to promote science. Speech balloons add extra humor. Throughout the book, actual scientific principles are introduced to young readers in a way that’s both holistic and fun, and the backmatter includes a seed-germination experiment. Fans of Ada Twist, Scientist, by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts (2016), and Charlotte the Scientist Is Squished, by Camille Andros and illustrated by Brianne Farley (2017), will enjoy Esther’s tale.
A magical addition to the STEM shelf. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-525-58139-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Informative, empowering, and fun.
Girl power abounds in this book about coding that introduces young readers to the world of programming while offering them hands-on activities via a companion app.
In this title that was first introduced as a customizable, personalized print-on-demand product, Rox has a superpower. Using code, she programs toy robots that can do things like make broccoli disappear—or mischief. When Dad tells Rox to clean her room, she quickly thinks up a bot that will do it for her, writing code that instructs her bot to use artificial intelligence to sort objects by color and type. Though Rox knows that there’s a high potential for her creation to rebel, the perks outweigh any potential adverse effects. Rox’s robot has her room neat and tidy in no time—and then the entire home. Chorebot’s AI allows it to keep learning, and it seems Chorebot can do no wrong until the robot decides to rearrange the entire city (both buildings and people) by type, style, and gender. Chorebot goes “out of his artificial mind!” Rox must now stop her creation…without the assistance of the internet. The artwork, styled in the tradition of popular superhero series, is peppy and colorful, and it depicts Rox as an adorable black girl donning a black bomber jacket and a pink tutu. A companion app (not available for review) allows readers to create a bot of their own.
Informative, empowering, and fun. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-57687-899-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: POW!
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so...
A pro bono Twinkie of a book invites readers to fly off in a magic plane to bring clean water to our planet’s oceans, deserts, and brown children.
Following a confusingly phrased suggestion beneath a soft-focus world map to “touch the Earth. Now touch where you live,” a shake of the volume transforms it into a plane with eyes and feathered wings that flies with the press of a flat, gray “button” painted onto the page. Pressing like buttons along the journey releases a gush of fresh water from the ground—and later, illogically, provides a filtration device that changes water “from yucky to clean”—for thirsty groups of smiling, brown-skinned people. At other stops, a tap on the button will “help irrigate the desert,” and touching floating bottles and other debris in the ocean supposedly makes it all disappear so the fish can return. The 20 children Coh places on a globe toward the end are varied of skin tone, but three of the four young saviors she plants in the flier’s cockpit as audience stand-ins are white. The closing poem isn’t so openly parochial, though it seldom rises above vague feel-good sentiments: “Love the Earth, the moon and sun. / All the children can be one.”
“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so easy to clean the place up and give everyone a drink? (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5107-2083-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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