An appealingly if occasionally problematically illustrated browser that may pose more questions than it answers.
Sixteen uncommon trees from around the world describe themselves, in first, er, person, in this charmingly illustrated but odd French import.
Each woody marvel is described in a separate two-page, colorfully bordered spread, with facts given on the verso and a dreamy, folk-style painting opposite. Included are such strange botanicals as the “ghost tree,” the “bullhorn tree,” and the “dynamite tree.” Problems branch out: the trees don’t say if their nicknames are common usage—or if they’re the author’s own arch inventions. The “self-portraits” provide some useful information, including scientific and/or other common names and occasional thumbnail sketches of fruits and seeds, though some facts may be over the target audience’s heads. However, the “autobiographies” are also often marred by silly, self-conscious hipness. The trees’ places of origin are only seldom named within the descriptions, and maps of continents on the endpapers are only very general guides. The sprightly paintings sometimes reflect stereotypes: a male Native American standing next to a sequoia carries a tomahawk and wears a Plains Indian feathered headdress, for instance. Furthermore, while noteworthy, some trees aren’t so strange or little-known at all, despite exotic monikers: the “chocolate tree” is the cocoa tree, the “forty-coin tree” is the gingko biloba, and the “giant sequoia” is the renowned U.S. treasure. There is no glossary.
An appealingly if occasionally problematically illustrated browser that may pose more questions than it answers. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61689-459-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 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
The story feels a bit contrived, but Ada will be a welcome addition to the small circle of science-loving girls in the...
Using science and technology, third-grader Ada Lace kicks off her new series by solving a mystery even with her leg in a cast.
Temporarily housebound after a badly executed bungee jump, Ada uses binoculars to document the ecosystem of her new neighborhood in San Francisco. She records her observations in a field journal, a project that intrigues new friend Nina, who lives nearby. When they see that Ms. Reed’s dog, Marguerite, is missing, they leap to the conclusion that it has been stolen. Nina does the legwork and Ada provides the technology for their search for the dognapper. Story-crafting takes a back seat to scene-setting in this series kickoff that introduces the major players. As part of the series formula, science topics and gadgetry are integrated into the stories and further explained in a “Behind the Science” afterword. This installment incorporates drones, a wireless camera, gecko gloves, and the Turing test as well as the concept of an ecosystem. There are no ethnic indicators in the text, but the illustrations reveal that Ada, her family, and bratty neighbor Milton are white; Nina appears to be Southeast Asian; and Mr. Peebles, an inventor who lives nearby, is black.
The story feels a bit contrived, but Ada will be a welcome addition to the small circle of science-loving girls in the chapter-book world. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8599-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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