by Dean Robbins ; illustrated by Sean Rubin ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 28, 2019
Inspiring fare for readers who, as the author puts it, dream of becoming “brave astronauts,” “great artists,” or both.
A portrait of Alan Bean, the fourth man to walk on the moon and the first to express what that felt like in paint.
Basing his account at least in part on personal interviews with Bean, who tellingly described himself as “an artist who was once an astronaut,” Robbins (who also wrote about our nearest neighbor in Margaret and the Moon, illustrated by Lucy Knisley, 2017) spins a glowing tribute that focuses more on his white subject’s artistic aspirations than his outstanding Navy and NASA careers. Having found after his Apollo mission and subsequent experiences in space that “words weren’t enough” and photographs likewise failed to capture the “wonder of walking on a new world,” Bean turned to a medium that allowed him to experiment with light, color, and even materials—some of his work includes actual moon dust, spacesuit boot prints, and marks created by astronautical tools. Rubin’s cover and internal views of an easel actually set up on the lunar surface are fanciful, but along with scenes from Bean’s youth and short but electrifying time on the moon, he incorporates versions of some of Bean’s space paintings into glimpses of the artist’s studio and a gallery exhibition (where some younger viewers are people of color). Further examples are paired in the backmatter to the actual photos that inspired them.
Inspiring fare for readers who, as the author puts it, dream of becoming “brave astronauts,” “great artists,” or both. (timeline, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 7-10)Pub Date: May 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-25953-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
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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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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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