This alphabet scavenger hunt will intrigue adults perhaps more than kids, but it’s fascinating and extremely inventive.
This alphabet book takes the ABCs to new heights—literally.
Aerial color photographs from the United States Geologic Survey offer a bird’s-eye view of various places in the United States from high above, letters of the alphabet “hiding” among the panoramic scenes. On the lower-right corner of each double-page spread is a square inset that identifies the location and map coordinates. For example, the A spread depicts Lake Worth, Florida, from above, an A-shaped subdivision just right of center. In the inset, a white map of the United States sits on a yellow field with a black dot to locate the town; city and state information is also printed, along with geographical data (N 26.5702 and W80.1904). Alphabet letters can be found in the many shapes: subdivisions and single buildings, roads and a power corridor, an island, a golf course, and bodies of water. Some letters jump out more than others, presenting readers with varying challenges. The page composition places a question at the top left as a prompt: “can you spot the A?” The type is a nice, clean Ariel Bold. This concept is an attention-grabbing blend of Stephen Johnson’s Alphabet City (1995) and Roxie Munro’s books of mazes that only the combination of a computational designer (Gross) and a geographer (Lee) could create. Backmatter includes a photo legend that reveals the letters plus two spreads of additional letters without identification, “just for fun.”
This alphabet scavenger hunt will intrigue adults perhaps more than kids, but it’s fascinating and extremely inventive. (Picture book. 5 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-99581-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Price Stern Sloan
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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