by Charles A. Amenta III & illustrated by Monika Pollak ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2011
Likable young Russell puts a face on autism. Amenta’s experience with his own son (now grown) shapes this heartfelt approach. This child craves routine and rituals and struggles to relate to his younger brothers. Similarities between Russell and his siblings reveal emotional depth, though, occasionally, earnest simplifications lead to vague statements. (“Not all kids with autism have a hard time learning. Some are really smart and a few are even extraordinary!”) Focusing on Russell's experiences, the book avoids sweeping generalizations while fairly outlining the condition's complexities. The objective tone describes oddities in behavior through nonjudgmental language. Notably, the book eschews discussion of the controversy surrounding the diagnosis. A lengthy author’s note encourages families to seek professional support, but it does not include a list of recommended, current resources. Vivid mixed-media spreads include black-and-white childhood photos and display a hodgepodge of household objects and crayon scribbles; each element vies for control of the cluttered mind. Though Russell remains nonverbal, his expressive eyes depict each intense reaction. Busy spreads reveal his isolation and frustration as he fights for control. Supportive without sugarcoating, this realistic account of a disorder that affects so many contains at its core a raw emotional heart. (Nonfiction. 6-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-4338-0975-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
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by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018
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
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More In The Series
by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman
by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman
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by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman
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by Natalie Labarre ; illustrated by Natalie Labarre ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 14, 2020
Chicken sexer? Breath odor evaluator? Cryptozoologist? Island caretaker? The choices dazzle! (Informational picture book....
From funeral clown to cheese sculptor, a tally of atypical trades.
This free-wheeling survey, framed as a visit to “The Great Hall of Jobs,” is designed to shake readers loose from simplistic notions of the world of work. Labarre opens with a generic sculpture gallery of, as she puts it, “The Classics”—doctor, dancer, farmer, athlete, chef, and the like—but quickly moves on, arranging busy cartoon figures by the dozen in kaleidoscopic arrays, with pithy captions describing each occupation. As changes of pace she also tucks in occasional challenges to match select workers (Las Vegas wedding minister, “ethical” hacker, motion-capture actor) with their distinctive tools or outfits. The actual chances of becoming, say, the queen’s warden of the swans or a professional mattress jumper, not to mention the nitty-gritty of physical or academic qualifications, income levels, and career paths, are left largely unspecified…but along with noting that new jobs are being invented all the time (as, in the illustration, museum workers wheel in a “vlogger” statue), the author closes with the perennial insight that it’s essential to love what you do and the millennial one that there’s nothing wrong with repeatedly switching horses midstream. The many adult figures and the gaggle of children (one in a wheelchair) visiting the “Hall” are diverse of feature, sex, and skin color.
Chicken sexer? Breath odor evaluator? Cryptozoologist? Island caretaker? The choices dazzle! (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1219-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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