An engaging father-daughter STEAM story full of support and scientific inquiry.
A young Asian American girl engineers a rocket launch while her father does the same.
It’s 1968, and Bonnie’s father is a NASA engineer working on the Apollo 11 mission. It’s a job that requires him to be far from home for 10 months. While Baba is hundreds of miles away working on launching astronauts to the moon, Bonnie has a task of her own: “designing a magnificent rocket ship.” As she works on her project—setbacks and breakthroughs included—letters from Baba offer encouragement. And like Baba’s team of engineers, Bonnie’s diverse group of friends and her sibling, Mei Mei, are a strong, collaborative crew. With them by her side, Bonnie works through the various stages—the Design, the Build, the Test, the Analysis—before a successful launch the day before the Apollo 11 lifts off. Lee accessibly introduces scientific principles as Bonnie toils through the construction of her rocket. Readers follow along as she troubleshoots and gets inspired. Chau’s inviting illustrations depict Bonnie’s methodology, using her notebook as the backdrop for many spreads. Paired with the parallel narrative of an engineer father away working on a space mission, the moments of distance, encouragement, and shared interest provide additional emotional resonance. In an author’s note, Lee discusses drawing inspiration from her grandfather, who was born in Guangzhou, China, and immigrated to the United States, where he worked with NASA and the Apollo space program. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
An engaging father-daughter STEAM story full of support and scientific inquiry. (activity) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64379-069-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of...
An international story tackles a serious global issue with Reynolds’ characteristic visual whimsy.
Gie Gie—aka Princess Gie Gie—lives with her parents in Burkina Faso. In her kingdom under “the African sky, so wild and so close,” she can tame wild dogs with her song and make grass sway, but despite grand attempts, she can neither bring the water closer to home nor make it clean. French words such as “maintenant!” (now!) and “maman” (mother) and local color like the karite tree and shea nuts place the story in a French-speaking African country. Every morning, Gie Gie and her mother perch rings of cloth and large clay pots on their heads and walk miles to the nearest well to fetch murky, brown water. The story is inspired by model Georgie Badiel, who founded the Georgie Badiel Foundation to make clean water accessible to West Africans. The details in Reynolds’ expressive illustrations highlight the beauty of the West African landscape and of Princess Gie Gie, with her cornrowed and beaded hair, but will also help readers understand that everyone needs clean water—from the children of Burkina Faso to the children of Flint, Michigan.
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of potable water. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17258-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers.
Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
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