by Craig Fusco illustrated by Dean MacAdam developed by Game Collage LLC ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 2011
A (literally) illuminating survey, with exemplary choice and use of digital enhancements.
It’s science! Presented with plenty of buoyant, eye-catching graphics and cleverly designed interactive fun.
Plainly descended from a food processor but sounding like E.T. and sporting a “holo-projector” capable of throwing up tilt-responsive 3-D images when tapped, Bobo the robot squires viewers through introductions to 21 light-related topics. These range from the sun (and planets), color and fire to Thomas Edison, the human eye and bioluminescence. Opening either in succession or in any order thanks to a strip of thumbnail images, each single-topic screen features a tableau of animated cartoon figures (Bobo incinerating a marshmallow over a Fire to the amusement of a chortling caveman; a set of movable mirrors and a laser to explore angles of Reflection), a lively musical background track and an (un-narrated) introductory paragraph of basic information. Three-down insets on each screen add such features as a super-slow-mo video of lightning strikes, a touch-sensitive menu of Edison’s most famous inventions, narrated slide shows of neon shop signs and kinds of animal vision and one or more pages of additional explanation or quirky facts. The animations and sound effects are all cogent, comical or both, and from lighthearted opening tutorial to spectacular closing show of nighttime fireworks, there’s nary a dull nor uninformative moment.
A (literally) illuminating survey, with exemplary choice and use of digital enhancements. (iPad informational app. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Game Collage
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
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More by Hans Christian Andersen
BOOK REVIEW
by Hans Christian Andersen developed by Game Collage LLC
by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 18, 2021
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
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More by Joanna Rzezak
BOOK REVIEW
by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak
BOOK REVIEW
by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak
by Mike Lowery ; illustrated by Mike Lowery ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 7, 2021
A quick flight but a blast from first to last.
A charged-up roundup of astro-facts.
Having previously explored everything awesome about both dinosaurs (2019) and sharks (2020), Lowery now heads out along a well-traveled route, taking readers from the Big Bang through a planet-by-planet tour of the solar system and then through a selection of space-exploration highlights. The survey isn’t unique, but Lowery does pour on the gosh-wow by filling each hand-lettered, poster-style spread with emphatic colors and graphics. He also goes for the awesome in his selection of facts—so that readers get nothing about Newton’s laws of motion, for instance, but will come away knowing that just 65 years separate the Wright brothers’ flight and the first moon landing. They’ll also learn that space is silent but smells like burned steak (according to astronaut Chris Hadfield), that thanks to microgravity no one snores on the International Space Station, and that Buzz Aldrin was the first man on the moon…to use the bathroom. And, along with a set of forgettable space jokes (OK, one: “Why did the carnivore eat the shooting star?” “Because it was meteor”), the backmatter features drawing instructions for budding space artists and a short but choice reading list. Nods to Katherine Johnson and NASA’s other African American “computers” as well as astronomer Vera Rubin give women a solid presence in the otherwise male and largely White cast of humans. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A quick flight but a blast from first to last. (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-35974-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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More by Laura Murray
BOOK REVIEW
by Laura Murray ; illustrated by Mike Lowery
BOOK REVIEW
by Laura Murray ; illustrated by Mike Lowery
BOOK REVIEW
by Mike Lowery ; illustrated by Mike Lowery
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