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ONE GIANT LEAP

Name: ONE GIANT LEAP
Author: Don Brown
ISBN: 0-395-88401-2

THE STORY OF NEIL ARMSTRONG

by Don Brown & illustrated by Don Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1998

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From Brown (Alice Ramsay’s Grand Adventure, 1997, etc.), a pithy look at one of the national heroes of the space age. Recurring vivid dreams of floating high above his neighborhood sparked Neil Armstrong’s fascination with flight and led ultimately to a life spent among the clouds and stars. The first half of this brief biography showcases Armstrong’s childhood, his hobbies, part-time jobs, and determination to earn a pilot’s license. The second part highlights his historic flight to the moon and the thrill of being the first human being to set foot on its surface. Brown’s text is simple enough for very young children to enjoy, while the accompanying illustrations skillfully use perspective to capture the world through a child’s eyes. The story has been told many times, but perhaps never with so much heart and spirit. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-395-88401-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998

Categories:

CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
IT'S ABOUT TIME!
by Don Brown ; illustrated by Don Brown

- BOOK REVIEW
RUN AND HIDE
by Don Brown ; illustrated by Don Brown

- BOOK REVIEW
83 DAYS IN MARIUPOL
by Don Brown ; illustrated by Don Brown

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WATER

by Frank Asch & edited by Frank Asch ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1995

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``Water is dew. Water is ice and snow.'' No matter what form it takes, seldom has plain old water appeared so colorful as in this rainbow-hued look at rain, dew, snowflakes, clouds, rivers, floods, and seas. Asch celebrates water's many forms with a succinct text and lush paintings done in mostly in softly muted watercolors of aqua, green, rose, blue, and yellow. They look as if they were created with a wet-on-wet technique that makes every hue lightly bleed into its neighbor. Water appears as ribbons of color, one sliding into the other, while objects that are not (in readers' minds) specifically water-like—trees, rocks, roots—are similarly colored. Perhaps the author intends to show water is everything and everything is water, but the concept is not fully realized for this age group. The whole is charming, but more successful as art than science. Though catalogued as nonfiction, this title will be better off in the picture book section. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-7)

Pub Date: March 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-15-200189-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1995

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
TACOS
by Frank Asch ; illustrated by Frank Asch

- BOOK REVIEW
PANCAKES IN PAJAMAS
by Frank Asch ; illustrated by Frank Asch

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LENDING ZOO
by Frank Asch ; illustrated by Frank Asch

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ANIMAL ARCHITECTS

From the Amazing Animals series

by Amy Cherrix ; illustrated by Chris Sasaki ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 7, 2021

An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort.

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A look at the unique ways that 11 globe-spanning animal species construct their homes.

Each creature garners two double-page spreads, which Cherrix enlivens with compelling and at-times jaw-dropping facts. The trapdoor spider constructs a hidden burrow door from spider silk. Sticky threads, fanning from the entrance, vibrate “like a silent doorbell” when walked upon by unwitting insect prey. Prairie dogs expertly dig communal burrows with designated chambers for “sleeping, eating, and pooping.” The largest recorded “town” occupied “25,000 miles and housed as many as 400 million prairie dogs!” Female ants are “industrious insects” who can remove more than a ton of dirt from their colony in a year. Cathedral termites use dirt and saliva to construct solar-cooled towers 30 feet high. Sasaki’s lively pictures borrow stylistically from the animal compendiums of mid-20th-century children’s lit; endpapers and display type elegantly suggest the blues of cyanotypes and architectural blueprints. Jarringly, the lead spread cheerfully extols the prowess of the corals of the Great Barrier Reef, “the world’s largest living structure,” while ignoring its accelerating, human-abetted destruction. Calamitously, the honeybee hive is incorrectly depicted as a paper-wasps’ nest, and the text falsely states that chewed beeswax “hardens into glue to shape the hive.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort. (selected sources) (Informational picture book. 5-8)