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THE WORLD AROUND US

A SPACE VOYAGE

An imaginary space voyage is the device used to introduce seven planets and four moons of the solar system to middle-grade readers. Engaging informal diary entries are set on double-page spreads of photo-like illustrations. The spreads depict the traveler outlined as a cartoon character hitting a baseball, turning aerial somersaults, smelling an air sample, jetting among the rocks of Saturn’s rings and swooshing in his rocket ship with “space-warp drive” before returning to earth, the only place providing humans with the water, food and air necessary to live. The backmatter includes fast facts (size, gravity, day, year, atmosphere, temperature and spacecraft visitors), a glossary, web sites and books for kids, as well as the author’s bibliography and acknowledgments. While the information is up-to-date, the approach is superficial and occasionally misleading. Pair with Ken Crosswell’s Ten Worlds (May 2006) or other titles that use actual photos and present their information straight, or save your money. (Nonfiction. 8-10)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-7613-3405-X

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Millbrook

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006

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1001 BEES

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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THE STORY OF SALT

The author of Cod’s Tale (2001) again demonstrates a dab hand at recasting his adult work for a younger audience. Here the topic is salt, “the only rock eaten by human beings,” and, as he engrossingly demonstrates, “the object of wars and revolutions” throughout recorded history and before. Between his opening disquisition on its chemical composition and a closing timeline, he explores salt’s sources and methods of extraction, its worldwide economic influences from prehistoric domestication of animals to Gandhi’s Salt March, its many uses as a preservative and industrial product, its culinary and even, as the source for words like “salary” and “salad,” its linguistic history. Along with lucid maps and diagrams, Schindler supplies detailed, sometimes fanciful scenes to go along, finishing with a view of young folk chowing down on orders of French fries as ghostly figures from history look on. Some of Kurlansky’s claims are exaggerated (the Erie and other canals were built to transport more than just salt, for instance), and there are no leads to further resources, but this salutary (in more ways than one) micro-history will have young readers lifting their shakers in tribute. (Picture book/nonfiction. 8-10)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-399-23998-7

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006

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