Despite some features with limited shelf life, a useful start to exploring the body’s full sensorium.
Pop-ups and bright graphics demonstrate that humans have more than five senses to fool.
This busy book expands the traditional set of senses to no fewer than 18 at the outset. Though it doesn’t get to all of them, along with color-based effects and other optical illusions, it offers ways of tricking nose and tongue, challenges to pattern recognition, demonstrations of proprioception, and tests of reflex speed. The small but varied bundle of interactive extras includes a sliding panel of colored acetate, a pop-up visual puzzle, a section of scratch-and-sniff dots, and a slotted maze at the end through which to roll ball bearings (included). Subtle embossing defines several animals hidden under flaps and two other mazes that readers are directed to trace with eyes closed, but it’s likely too low for all but braille-trained fingertips. Still, in general the neatly presented visuals and accompanying instructions are easy to follow, produce reliable results, and come with descriptions of the expected effect, its causes, and the body part involved.
Despite some features with limited shelf life, a useful start to exploring the body’s full sensorium. (Informational pop-up. 8-10)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4654-3829-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
With a rhythm and rhyme that never falter, Slade offers readers insect-themed word problems: “Four hungry honey bees / dance...
Rhyming verse presents buggy word problems that can all be solved using multiplication.
With a rhythm and rhyme that never falter, Slade offers readers insect-themed word problems: “Four hungry honey bees / dance a buggy beat— / tappin’ with six furry legs. / How many dancing feet? / 4 x 6 = ?” The 11 multiplication facts, seemingly randomly chosen, each include one of the numbers from one to 11. While no doubt good practice the first time through, it precludes repeated readings and incorporates only a smattering of facts. Hunter, with specialties in entomological and botanical illustration, truly makes the text come alive. Her insects are realistically detailed and seem ready to crawl right out of the pages. But while they are fascinating to look at, they are not always the easiest to use as counters in answering the problems. The ladybug spots and walking stick parts are too small to count, and for those not in the know, the soldier ants appear to have only one pair of eyes rather than the five eyes of the math problem. Backmatter includes extensive information and questions to help readers learn more about insects. A final page provides a multiplication table as well as a breakdown of each problem from the text.Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60718-128-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sylvan Dell
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2011
This word-based adventure falters in its oversimplification of a complicated place.
Two best friends have an etymological adventure.
Normally, Eddie, a White boy, and MJ, an Indian American girl, spend their sleepover Saturdays playing and watching movies. One special Saturday, however, they uncover Eddie’s grandfather’s tome on word origins. When they open what they call the Awesome Enchanted Book, it magically whisks them away to the Indian city of Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. There, they meet a young Rajasthani prince named Dev who needs to find his family’s ancestral treasure to rebuild a village school destroyed in a typhoon. But Dev isn’t the only one after the treasure: A mustache-twirling White man named Mr. Raffles wants that money too. Together, the three kids race to solve the word-related clues in order to find the treasure first. While this etymologically themed series opener’s premise is promising, its execution oversimplifies India's complexity. Dev, for example, comes from a Hindu dynasty even though the book takes place largely in and around a city and monument constructed by ancient Muslim rulers, who are never mentioned as such. Additionally, the words tufan (source of typhoon) and pajama are identified only as Hindi in the glossary despite their journeys through Arabic and/or Persian; the phrase Holy Cow is introduced with no explanation of its colonialist origins. These choices shortchange both readers and premise. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
This word-based adventure falters in its oversimplification of a complicated place. (Fantasy. 8-10)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-72822-205-9
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
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