An engaging tribute to scientists who transformed volcanic study through fearless dedication.
Writing in verse, Manley chronicles the passionate lives and tragic deaths of French volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft.
The parallel childhoods of the book’s subjects unfold through vividly provided details: Katia’s love of pebbles, Maurice’s early years exploring Pompeii. Their meeting as university students ignites “L’Équipe Vulcain”—the Vulcan Team, a decades-long partnership documenting volcanic eruptions worldwide until their 1991 deaths at Mount Unzen in Japan. Tens of thousands were saved, however; video taken by the Kraffts documenting the dangers of volcanos prompted a mass evacuation. The verse format creates narrative momentum, particularly in the chapter “The Last Day,” which effectively establishes tension and character voice. Sidebars smoothly integrate scientific content. Roy’s illustrations prove spectacular, using selective bursts of orange and red lava against grayscale backgrounds to create visceral impact; her dramatic perspectives emphasize volcanic scale against tiny human infrastructure, while atmospheric smoke and ash effects convey the chaos the Kraffts witnessed. The verse quality varies; some evocative lines achieve genuine lyricism, while expository passages such as “the analyzer determined which gases / were puffing out of the fumaroles” read more like prose broken into lines. Some line breaks feel arbitrary rather than purposeful. Still, the Kraffts’ compelling story—two obsessive scientists committed to their work and to each other—propels the narrative with real emotional power, and the extensive backmatter grounds their legacy in contemporary volcanology.
An engaging tribute to scientists who transformed volcanic study through fearless dedication. (author’s note, additional resources, bibliography) (Verse biography. 8-12)Pub Date: April 21, 2026
ISBN: 9780063386297
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share.
A multiaward–winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.
Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevieand Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.
For every dreaming girl (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. (Memoir/poetry. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2014
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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