A welcome rallying cry to get outdoors and explore.
A guidebook to seasonal play.
Brimming with crafts, recipes, poetry, encyclopedialike facts, and games and divided into four sections (each devoted to a different season), this ambitious book aims to accomplish many things at once. An “Eat/Do/Look/Read” portion starts each section, with suggestions that will draw young people into nature (for instance, in spring, eat rhubarb, plant herbs, look for butterflies, and read three titles). Interviews with adults with intriguing careers are interspersed (for instance, paper airplane engineer John Collins, natural navigator Tristan Gooley). Some of the projects are familiar and time-tested (making leaf rubbings or a time capsule); others are more novel, like building a pinhole camera or a bug hotel. The book struggles with its intended audience. The language and vocabulary feel pitched to adults, but the “Dear Grown-Ups” sections that accompany activities imply that the majority of the volume is aimed at young readers. Arnault’s muted illustrations, sprinkled throughout, have a lovely earthen palette that matches the overall tone. Diagrams and figures are small; adults will find them easier to interpret than kids would. A helpful index divided into sections offers readers entry points depending on their interest (activities that require adult supervision, those that require an hour or less). Despite the audience issues, caregivers and educators will find plenty of inspiration; on the whole the book succeeds as encouragement to put down screens and immerse oneself in nature. Occasional human characters are light-skinned.
A welcome rallying cry to get outdoors and explore. (Activity book. 8-12)Pub Date: March 24, 2026
ISBN: 9781778403088
Page Count: 180
Publisher: Greystone Kids
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
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
Contentwise, an arbitrary assortment…but sure to draw fans of comics, of science, or of both.
Flash, Batman, and other characters from the DC Comics universe tackle supervillains and STEM-related topics and sometimes, both.
Credited to 20 writers and illustrators in various combinations, the 10 episodes invite readers to tag along as Mera and Aquaman visit oceanic zones from epipelagic to hadalpelagic; Supergirl helps a young scholar pick a science-project topic by taking her on a tour of the solar system; and Swamp Thing lends Poison Ivy a hand to describe how DNA works (later joining Swamp Kid to scuttle a climate-altering scheme by Arcane). In other episodes, various costumed creations explain the ins and outs of diverse large- and small-scale phenomena, including electricity, atomic structure, forensic techniques, 3-D printing, and the lactate threshold. Presumably on the supposition that the characters will be more familiar to readers than the science, the minilectures tend to start from simple basics, but the figures are mostly both redrawn to look more childlike than in the comics and identified only in passing. Drawing styles and page designs differ from chapter to chapter but not enough to interrupt overall visual unity and flow—and the cast is sufficiently diverse to include roles for superheroes (and villains) of color like Cyborg, Kid Flash, and the Latina Green Lantern, Jessica Cruz. Appended lists of websites and science-based YouTube channels, plus instructions for homespun activities related to each episode, point inspired STEM-winders toward further discoveries.
Contentwise, an arbitrary assortment…but sure to draw fans of comics, of science, or of both. (Graphic nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77950-382-4
Page Count: 160
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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