by Dorothea DePrisco ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 3, 2017
A wide-ranging and engaging survey.
What we see, how we see, and how eyes work.
DePrisco looks at eyes, light, and vision from many angles in this fact-filled introduction. Her topics range from the physical appearances and workings of human and animal eyes to lighting up the dark and seeing light from distant stars. She includes suggestions for taking care of your eyes (healthy eating, wearing protective gear when appropriate), eye evolution, a short history of glasses, and some optical illusions. Spread by spread, the information is presented in short, manageable paragraphs, each titled and accompanied by an appropriate photograph. These stock photos include humans of varying races. The lively design is attractive and appealing; the information is helpful, likely to answer the kinds of questions readers have. How did I get to have eyes this color? How do we see colors? What happens during an eye exam? What do animals see? Six intriguing questions (“Why do honeybees have hairy eyes?”) on the front endpapers are answered on the back. (The hairs detect wind direction.) The text invites readers to engage—even suggesting a simple activity demonstrating how a curved lens turns what you see upside down. The use of infobits will appeal to browsers, but the addition of extensive resources, a glossary, and an index makes this useful for elementary school researchers as well.
A wide-ranging and engaging survey. (Nonfiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63322-376-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seagrass/Quarto
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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by Dorothea DePrisco & illustrated by Treesha Runnells
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 Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak
BOOK REVIEW
by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak
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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More by Laura Murray
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by Laura Murray ; illustrated by Mike Lowery
BOOK REVIEW
by Laura Murray ; illustrated by Mike Lowery
BOOK REVIEW
by Mike Lowery ; illustrated by Mike Lowery
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