A captivating account about an engineer that’s information-packed and personal.
A nonfiction children’s book offers a detailed profile of a toy engineer.
The narration in Amanda Bright’s voice explains to young readers that “anything you can touch has been worked on by an engineer.” This includes toys—which are first dreamed up by designers and then presented to engineers, who must decide how to make ideas into real (and profitable) playthings. Kids who dream of working on making “the impossible possible” will enjoy descriptions of how teams of engineers consider questions of safety, test toys out on young audiences, and create prototypes and production models before a company orders factories to make the finished object. The “Around the World” chapter describes how Amanda’s job involves traveling to different places that manufacture various kinds of toys, and a map labels countries relevant to toy production (“Doll clothing is often sewn in Indonesia where beautiful fabrics are found”). Factory workers’ conditions, pollution, and plastic waste are not mentioned. Interviews with Amanda, presented with Moore’s photographs of the White engineer and eye-catching formatting, reveal her love of pets and running, her struggles with imposter syndrome, and her favorite food (khao soi). A short narrative of Amanda’s self-advocacy and hard work through high school and university shows possible paths for children who may wish to become engineers, though Andrus does not address systemic discrimination. Amanda notes that she adores science and math and was also motivated by her family’s lack of money to find a stable, well-paying job. In this first installment of a series highlighting women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, activities invite kids to inspect their beloved toys. They are urged to think about what materials were needed for the toys’ creation and how to improve them and to ponder their favorite ways to play. Further sections prompt reflective journaling: What goals are you determined to achieve? When have you felt brave? Young science enthusiasts will find intriguing details about how objects are produced. The work also encourages readers to plan their own future contributions.
A captivating account about an engineer that’s information-packed and personal.Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63946-001-4
Page Count: 62
Publisher: Adjective Animal Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
Contentwise, an arbitrary assortment…but sure to draw fans of comics, of science, or of both.
Flash, Batman, and other characters from the DC Comics universe tackle supervillains and STEM-related topics and sometimes, both.
Credited to 20 writers and illustrators in various combinations, the 10 episodes invite readers to tag along as Mera and Aquaman visit oceanic zones from epipelagic to hadalpelagic; Supergirl helps a young scholar pick a science-project topic by taking her on a tour of the solar system; and Swamp Thing lends Poison Ivy a hand to describe how DNA works (later joining Swamp Kid to scuttle a climate-altering scheme by Arcane). In other episodes, various costumed creations explain the ins and outs of diverse large- and small-scale phenomena, including electricity, atomic structure, forensic techniques, 3-D printing, and the lactate threshold. Presumably on the supposition that the characters will be more familiar to readers than the science, the minilectures tend to start from simple basics, but the figures are mostly both redrawn to look more childlike than in the comics and identified only in passing. Drawing styles and page designs differ from chapter to chapter but not enough to interrupt overall visual unity and flow—and the cast is sufficiently diverse to include roles for superheroes (and villains) of color like Cyborg, Kid Flash, and the Latina Green Lantern, Jessica Cruz. Appended lists of websites and science-based YouTube channels, plus instructions for homespun activities related to each episode, point inspired STEM-winders toward further discoveries.
Contentwise, an arbitrary assortment…but sure to draw fans of comics, of science, or of both. (Graphic nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77950-382-4
Page Count: 160
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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