A bit of science presented with love and joy. Charming.
Everything in the world is new and amazing and sparks wonder in young children.
Dad points out a beautiful rainbow as he walks with his little girl and tells her that rainbows are seen when the sun comes out after it rains. His daughter is wonderstruck and curiously asks, “Why?” That’s only the beginning. Dad’s explanations about color, light refraction, wavelengths, and even the “photon quantum field” grow deeper, more scientific and detailed, only to be greeted with yet another “why?” from the child. Dad grows extremely anxious as he sweats with nerves and is driven to tears endeavoring to satisfy his little girl’s endless curiosity while she seems to delight in the information, embracing it with joy even though it is way above her understanding. She becomes aware of his discomfort and lets him know how much she appreciates him. Then she spots something else that readers know will definitely elicit that question again. The book’s subtitle, “A Sciency, Rhymey Guide to Rainbows,” sets the tone and format. All the science is real and played out within a warm, loving father-daughter relationship. Dunne’s rhyming text and Jefferys’ colorful, eye-catching illustrations are totally in tandem, seamlessly meshing the scientific terminology with increasingly intricate diagrams. The characters are depicted as redheads and present White.
A bit of science presented with love and joy. Charming. (Picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-84886-648-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Maverick Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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