Cool! Snow really has the power to wow—and teaches math, too.
Snow descends mathematically.
We intuitively understand that when snow falls, huge numbers of snowflakes combine to form a white cover. This book demonstrates that there’s also a mathematical way to regard snowfall: Consider snowflakes falling in pairs, then multiply them exponentially. The book starts with two snowflakes, which increase in number over the course of the story. At the bottom of each page, a caption shows the base number 2 with an exponent—for instance, on the page labeled “Eight flakes twirl,” the caption reads “2³ = 2 to the third power / 2 x 2 x 2 = 8.” It all culminates with 2 to the 14th power, or 16,384 snowflakes. The correct number of snowflakes is depicted on each page, and when the numbers are manageable, readers may actually count them in the artwork. The text is delivered in simple, lively verse. Younger kids likely won’t get the math, not having learned multiplication yet, but they’ll appreciate fun vocabulary like swoosh and sashay. Older kids who’ve studied multiplication will understand more and appreciate learning how to multiply the same number repeatedly. The lush, textured illustrations, created from cut pieces of painted-paper collage, then assembled digitally, capture nature at its wintry best. Two children—one light-skinned, one brown-skinned—are depicted playing in the snow. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cool! Snow really has the power to wow—and teaches math, too. (what is an exponent?, illustrator’s note) (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781728450919
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature.
In a new entry in the Over and Under series, a paddleboarder glimpses humpback whales leaping, floats over a populous kelp forest, and explores life on a beach and in a tide pool.
In this tale inspired by Messner’s experiences in Monterey Bay in California, a young tan-skinned narrator, along with their light-skinned mom and tan-skinned dad, observes in quiet, lyrical language sights and sounds above and below the sea’s serene surface. Switching perspectives and angles of view and often leaving the family’s red paddleboards just tiny dots bobbing on distant swells, Neal’s broad seascapes depict in precise detail bat stars and anchovies, kelp bass, and sea otters going about their business amid rocky formations and the swaying fronds of kelp…and, further out, graceful moon jellies and—thrillingly—massive whales in open waters beneath gliding pelicans and other shorebirds. After returning to the beach at day’s end to search for shells and to spot anemones and decorator crabs, the child ends with nighttime dreams of stars in the sky meeting stars in the sea. Appended nature notes on kelp and 21 other types of sealife fill in details about patterns and relationships in this rich ecosystem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79720-347-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A solid addition to the climate-change canon for those interested in saving a fragile world.
Dire consequences attend the unchecked melting of Arctic sea ice.
The more the ice melts, the more the Arctic climate changes. The more that air and ground temperatures rise, the more the frozen ecosystem’s inhabitants, including plants and insects, suffer from dwindling habitats; threats to food sources; and imbalances in feeding, breeding, and migration patterns. Solid information is packed into this brief work that lucidly raises the alarm for young readers, with each spread capturing the thrilling, chilling north in rich, dramatic blue swathes of seawater set off by icy glaciers and snowdrifts. Child-friendly, occasionally cluttered paintings, some with labels, highlight polar bears and their Arctic neighbors; a spread of vignettes illustrates how changes to plant life affect wildlife. One labeled spread explains all: As seawater warms, it absorbs sunlight, thus heating more water and melting more ice. One poignant spread depicts a bewildered polar bear mom, eyeing readers and flanked by her twin cubs, drifting on a shrinking ice floe. Two human children, one brown-skinned and one pale, occasionally appear in the illustrations as well. The book ends on a hopeful note, reassuring youngsters that “we still have time to save polar bears and slow the loss of Arctic ice.” A note in the backmatter offers conservation tips.
A solid addition to the climate-change canon for those interested in saving a fragile world. (author’s note, bibliography, additional sources) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-14319-8
Page Count: 42
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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