An unusual and satisfying collection, and who will quibble with the Chicago Cubs’ “Lesson Learned”: “Believe you will...
If at first you don’t succeed, then at least enjoy the epic failures of others, for as well as the pleasures of schadenfreude, there are lessons to be learned.
Boyer presents 128 pages of whopping failures, flubs, and snafus—and even a few unexpected winners—in this fizzy selection. It’s busily designed, with squibs of text, photos, bright colors, speech balloons, and a boxed item for each failure with timeworn words of encouragement: “Lesson Learned.” Some of the examples are just plain flops (does anybody really miss the Segway?), but some are dangerous, too, as in those weighted, spiked lawn darts. “Nearly 5,000 kids wound up in emergency rooms.” (There is no “Lesson Learned” for that fiasco.) There are also failures that turned into winners—Slinky started life as a stabilizer for sensitive battleship equipment, which it didn’t stabilize—and happy accidents, such as the birth of the Popsicle after its 11-year-old inventor noticed his drink had frozen overnight. Then there are the perils of time and publishing. “The Chicago Cubs baseball team once seemed unstoppable,” back in 1907 and 1908, “[but] they haven’t won a World Series since.”
An unusual and satisfying collection, and who will quibble with the Chicago Cubs’ “Lesson Learned”: “Believe you will succeed!”? (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4263-2548-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The balance between information and attractive bookmaking is always important, but atlases like the National Geographic...
Retro-looking maps with pictures of animals, transport, famous landmarks and traditional dancers fill the pages of this mediocre atlas.
The text emphasizes environmental changes and sustainability, with proportionately less information on people. Organizationally, it starts with the oceans, including the two polar areas, and then explores the landmasses. Short, factoid-heavy paragraphs on physical features, climate and weather, natural resources, environment, wildlife and transport accompany each deeply colored map, and in the appropriate regional sections, a paragraph on people and places is added. Although the disproportionately sized pictures of landmarks, natural resources, generic people and miscellany on the maps are identified ("Omani man"; "bus"), too often they are not further explicated. Occasional fold-out pages and small, inserted “Did You Know?” booklets give the illusion of interactivity. Providing comparisons on carbon footprints (“a person in the UAE [United Arab Emirates] on average emits 15 times more than a person in China”) is vital information that seems at odds with the childish maps. A separate wall map (in the same style) is included. The woeful index includes only entries for country names, followed by their capitals.
The balance between information and attractive bookmaking is always important, but atlases like the National Geographic World Atlas for Young Explorers (2007) still remain the gold standard. This struggles to meet the bronze one. (glossary, index, sources; companion app not seen) (Reference. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-84686-333-2
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
Still, there is a bedrock of toponymic glory here, certainly enough to make some readers fall in love with geography.
You don’t have to be a geographer (or a toponymist, to get really specific) to take pleasure in odd place names, and there are far too few gazetteers out there for a new one to come amiss.
Herman’s contribution, then, is welcome, despite its weaknesses. First the strengths: Herman proceeds alphabetically by state, focusing on one curious place name and providing an explanation of its origin (or multiple possible explanations). Another dozen or so humorous place names are noted (with a few given very brief expository treatment), and a number of unusual state facts are delivered. Well and good, but this material, which can easily stand on its own, is bedeviled by a near-desperate striving for laughs. Not content to let the strange place names pull their comic weight, Herman douses them with corniness and puns and running jokes and enough exclamation marks to curl a Monkey’s Eyebrow (that’s in Kentucky). Another weakness is the artwork. Maps are a hotbed for artistic expression, but—except for the cover, which allows for color—Goldman’s maps feel anemic (the place names under discussion are not located on her state maps), scratchy and overly whimsical, with accompanying line drawings that are arbitrary or in anxiously eccentric pursuit of yet more mirth.
Still, there is a bedrock of toponymic glory here, certainly enough to make some readers fall in love with geography. (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-935279-79-2
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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