An understandable, fun introduction to environmental issues that could spark ideas for green inventions.
A boy realizes how his invention and other contributions can help the environment in this illustrated children’s book from a husband-and-wife team.
Noah Fairley, a White boy with big blue eyes, is a bit nervous about making his presentation to the Inventor’s Fair, focused this year on ways to protect the environment. He’s spent many weekends (and his own money) doing research and tinkering with his project. Being able to effect real change matters to Noah, but can his little contribution do that? As he waits his turn, he listens carefully to his classmates’ addresses. Each explains an important environmental challenge and offers a homemade device to help meet it. For example, Leila Tanaka reports that greenhouse gases created by fossil fuels trap heat, harming the climate and wildlife. Her invention is a “solar tree,” realistic but artificial, whose leaves are solar panels that collect and store clean, renewable energy. As he listens, Noah gets ideas to enhance his own invention, which is a remote-controlled device that scoops up plastic and garbage from the ocean so that it can be recycled. Noah’s invention inspires his family and others to go green, and he realizes that even small changes can make a difference. In Book 4 of their If Not You, Then Who? series, the Pridhams provide solid information about climate change, habitat loss, water conservation, and similar subjects. Noah’s idealism is appealing, and the Inventor’s Fair, where kids explain things to kids, makes the concepts approachable and stokes enthusiasm for helping the environment. Illustrating her latest children’s book, Rouaux delivers digital images that show with clarity and charm how the inventions work; most characters depicted are White, but there’s some diversity. The work includes resources for learning more information and taking action.
An understandable, fun introduction to environmental issues that could spark ideas for green inventions.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-951317-09-6
Page Count: 38
Publisher: Weeva
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Sloat collaborates with Huffman, a Yu’pik storyteller, to infuse a traditional “origins” tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast’s akutaq—described as “Eskimo ice cream,” though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard—young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then sings and dances them to life. Away they bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. Despite obtrusively inserted pronunciations for Yu’pik words in the text, young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana’s infectious delight. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-88240-575-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A bittersweet tale for kids that deftly illustrates the conflicting emotions that can occur when a loved one is struggling...
In Bertone’s illustrated children’s book, a young boy navigates his increasingly complex but loving relationship with his grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s disease.
Nate loves his Nana, but lately he’s noticed “something going on with her mind.” She begins acting oddly: attempting to read a book upside down, for instance, or forgetting that it’s his birthday party and not hers. As she becomes more preoccupied with “imaginary friends” that Nate can’t see, he becomes increasingly upset that she doesn’t play with him the way she used to: “Sometimes my Nana goes far away, traveling, in her mind. But, where? It’s hard to say! To Italy, outer space, or back to 1952. When Nana’s not here, I don’t know what to do.” Although other people, including Papa (Nate’s grandfather), tend to argue with her when she gets in those moods, Nate tries his hardest to be understanding. As he wonders if she’ll be around to see him get older, she reassures him that her love will remain forever, “though I may forget your name and your face.” Bertone tells the story in verse, with only one or two sentences per page. Claridades’ cartoon illustrations feature wide-eyed characters and pops of color that perfectly encapsulate the story’s shifting moods. When Nana talks to people who aren’t present, for example, the illustrator shades the ghosts of her past in a solid color to differentiate them from reality. The book skillfully blends hard facts and feelings, mentioning Alzheimer’s disease symptoms, such as mood swings, while also demonstrating Nate’s patience and adoration. The lack of parental figures in the book seems like a missed opportunity for the story to clearly explain to Nate, and young readers, what’s happening with Nana. By and large, though, the book manages to convey the reality of the disease to kids in an approachable way that encourages discussion. The book ends with resources for “Understanding aging, dementia, and Alzheimer’s.”
A bittersweet tale for kids that deftly illustrates the conflicting emotions that can occur when a loved one is struggling with dementia.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9798989403417
Page Count: 50
Publisher: Susan Schadt Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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