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THE STREET BENEATH MY FEET

An unusual offering for the young geology nerd.

This British import is an imaginatively constructed sequence of images that show a white boy examining a city pavement, clearly in London, and the sights he would see if he were able to travel down to the Earth’s core and then back again to the surface.

The geologic layers are depicted in 10 vertical spreads that require a 90-degree turn to be read and include endpapers, which open out, concertina fashion, to show the interior of the Earth to its core. Beneath the urban setting are drains, pipes, and artifacts of urban infrastructure. Below that, archaeological relics are revealed. An Underground train speeds by, and below it, a stalactite-encrusted cave yawns. Deep below the Earth’s crust, magma, the Earth’s mantle, and the inner core are shown. Turn the page to start going up again, back through the mantle to the crust, where precious minerals are revealed, then fossils, tree roots, and animal burrows, ending with the same boy in the English countryside. The painted, stenciled, and collaged illustrations are full-bleed, and the tones graduate pleasantly from light colors at the surface of the Earth to rich pinks, yellows, and oranges as readers near the Earth’s core. The text is informative, if lacking in poetry, including such nuggets as “earthworms are expert recyclers, eating dead plants in the soil.”

An unusual offering for the young geology nerd. (Informational picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: May 1, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-68297-136-9

Page Count: 20

Publisher: Words & Pictures

Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017

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THERE WAS AN OLD ASTRONAUT WHO SWALLOWED THE MOON!

The archetype’s patterns are just visible enough to boost this light payload of silliness and STEM-ware into orbit.

Ever ready to extend her culinary experience, the old lady of song turns to astrophagy.

Colandro’s 17th (and counting) riff on the classic cumulative rhyme sends the space-suited elder into space to swallow the moon (“It happened at noon at noon”). She then goes on in no obviously logical fashion to chow down on a star, a planet, a comet, a meteoroid, a rocket (“It was next on the docket”), and a satellite—before settling at last, in Lee’s frenetically stippled climactic scene, amid a diverse group of awestruck children beneath a gloriously crowded planetarium “sky.” In between verses two young and generally earthbound observers, one a child of color and the other white, step in to supply basic astro-facts (“That meteoroid made a loud sound!” observes one; the other explains, “It’s a meteorite when it hits the ground”) that are extended, at least a little, in a set of closing notes. And a search-and-find game at the end invites emergent stargazers to go back in search of various objects hidden in the cartoon starscapes. The titular old astronaut will be instantly recognizable to fans of the series as the bespectacled, white-bunned, lantern-jawed white protagonist they’ve come to know.

The archetype’s patterns are just visible enough to boost this light payload of silliness and STEM-ware into orbit. (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: April 30, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-338-32507-2

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019

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THE LITTLE BUTTERFLY THAT COULD

No, whining won’t shorten the journey…but it can make it more entertaining.

Slow and steady may win the race—but it’s not this butterfly’s style.

Having achieved metamorphosis despite many fits and starts in The VERY Impatient Caterpillar (2019), Burach’s popeyed, loudly colored flutterer faces a whole new challenge: tailing the rest of the migrating butterfly flock across a long stretch of ocean. “200 MILES? How am I supposed to travel that far?” Diving down the blowhole of a passing whale to hitch a ride in its stomach (anatomical detail is not a strong point here) turns out to be a nonstarter…but the whale does prove to be a supportive cheerleader. It horks the anguished insect up, admitting that even whales can be anxious sometimes and urging it to “KEEP TRYING” and “Believe you can.” Finally the insect boldly proclaims, “I got this!” And 200 miles of storms and predators later, it does indeed got this, landing amid bright flowers to a warm welcome from its fluttery compatriots. “You found your way!” Alas, the triumph quickly turns to fresh panic with the news that it’s almost time to go dormant for the winter. “Dorma-WHAT-now?” Stay still all winter? Uh-oh. Young members of the “Are we there yet?” chorus will wince in sympathy. The insect’s exaggerated expressions and frantic expostulations will elicit plenty of giggles, and sly pictorial details will keep a broad range of readers happy during rereads.

No, whining won’t shorten the journey…but it can make it more entertaining. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: March 2, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-338-61500-5

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021

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