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ED EMBERLEY'S DRAWING BOOK

MAKE A WORLD

Ed Emberley's smart and simple Animal Drawing Book (1970) was a disarmingly contemporary example of the popular if not quite respectable add-a-line drawing lesson. There are not only more animals here but all sorts of cars, trucks, planes, boats, wagons, furniture, buildings, people, and "this and that." The crowding of each page with ten to 30 items and up to nine steps in the construction of each item makes the book less attractive than its predecessor, but the great variety of objects may be just what devotees of the animal book have been waiting for. Emberley invites junior cartoonists to take off on their own from the basics he supplies, and he makes it seem so easy and enjoyable that they're bound to go on to more creative doodling.

Pub Date: March 16, 1972

ISBN: 0316789720

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1972

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PROFESSOR ASTRO CAT'S SPACE ROCKETS

From the Professor Astro Cat series

Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.

The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.

Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.

Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Flying Eye Books

Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018

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THE GRAPES OF MATH

MIND-STRETCHING MATH RIDDLES

This genuinely clever math book uses rhyming couplets and riddles, as well as visual cues to help the reader find new ways to group numbers for quick counting. It’s a return to number sets, with none of those boring parentheses and <>signs. Here the rhyme gives a clue to the new ways of grouping numbers. For example: “Mama mia, pizza pie, / How many mushrooms do you spy? / Please don’t count them, it’s too slow, / This hot pie was made to go! / Let me give you some advice, / Just do half and count it twice.” A quick look at the pizza, and the reader can see each slice has the same number of mushrooms. Count by threes for half the pie, and double it. Each rhyme is given a double-page spread. The extra-large, brightly colored images leap off the page but never distract from the author’s intent. Some riddles are very challenging, but the author provides all the solutions in the back. Once the reader has seen the answers, the strategy is obvious and can be applied to other situations. Great fun for math enthusiasts and creative thinkers, this might also teach adults some new tricks. A winning addition. (Nonfiction. 7-10)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-439-21033-X

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000

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