The story of a divide that cannot be bridged will leave readers with much to ponder.
In this modern interpretation of a traditional Inuit story, a fox marries a human.
One day a beautiful red fox falls from the sky. Catching sight of an Inuit family, she is fascinated. When the older son, Irniq, spots her, she flees but follows them, out of sight. Years pass, and Irniq grows into a man. He decides to set out on his own. His mother worries, but his father reassures her that their son is capable of surviving the rugged terrain. Now Irniq has his own sealskin tent, and after a long day hunting, he must do the chores alone. But there is a surprise when he arrives back at his camp. Who has lit the oil lamp and prepared his fish? This tale of a supernatural fox who hangs up her skin to become an Inuit man’s wife will sadden readers who hope to find unconditional love at the heart of the story. Instead, the book teaches an important lesson about judging our loved ones. With illustrations extending across double-page spreads, the tundra feels as if it is expanding beyond the corners of the book. The northern lights bounce off the horizon to enhance the mystery of this world, inviting readers to imagine a distant place and time when animals could become human.
The story of a divide that cannot be bridged will leave readers with much to ponder. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-77227-212-3
Page Count: 30
Publisher: Inhabit Media
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A broad, if hardly more than skin-deep, introduction to the topic.
Four double-foldout spreads literally extend this first gander at our body’s insides and outsides—to jumbo, if not quite life, size.
Labels, basic facts, and one-sentence comments surround full-length cartoon images of the skeleton, musculature, and major sections of the body on the foldouts. Selected parts from the brain on down to blood cells are covered on the leaves in between. Lacey dishes out explanations of major body systems and processes in resolutely nontechnical language: “When you eat, food goes on a long twisty journey, zigzagging through tubes and turning into a soupy mush for your body to use.” It’s lightly spiced with observations that, for instance, the “gluteus maximus” is the largest muscle or the spine is made up of “vertebrae.” So light is the once-over, however, that the lymphatic, renal, and most of the endocrine systems escape notice (kidneys, where are you?). Moreover, though printed on durable card stock, the foldouts make for unwieldy handling, and on some pages, images are so scattered that successive stages of various processes require numbering. Still, Web links on the publisher’s page will presumably help to cover the gaps (unavailable for review). An overview of human development from fertilization to adulthood precedes a closing flurry of height extremes and other “Amazing body facts” that provide proper closure for this elementary survey.
A broad, if hardly more than skin-deep, introduction to the topic. (Nonfiction. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7945-3596-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Usborne
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
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