An informative book that should fire young imaginations and foster an interest in the ways we take to the skies.
Vehicle-loving author Coyle turns his attention skyward in this guide to flying conveyances.
Following the format of previous volumes in the Finn’s Fun Trucks series, a racially diverse crew, apparently three men and two women in this case, presents five different types of aircraft and explains the features and uses of each. Featured types of transport are a jumbo jet, glider, seaplane, helicopter, and “spaceplane” (space shuttle). Each vehicle is named by its pilot via dialogue balloon on verso and illustrated on the facing page, with three key features identified. That page then folds open to show the craft in action: “A helicopter can fly straight up and down. / This makes flying possible when there isn’t enough room for a plane to take off or land.” The book concludes with the five pilots asking, “Can you guess all the places our crew can fly?” The facing picture of all five vehicles folds open to show them all at work, with the answer: “EVERYWHERE!” The crew is depicted in a pleasantly cartoonish form, and the aircraft are rendered realistically, with appropriate detail. The foldout pages invite children’s participation and should help to keep even the squirmiest young readers engaged. The simultaneously published Space Squad volume encourages children to look even further upward and outward.
An informative book that should fire young imaginations and foster an interest in the ways we take to the skies. (Board book. 2-6)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4867-1548-0
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Flowerpot Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
Smoother rides are out there.
Mommy and Bonnie—two anthropomorphic rodents—go for a joyride and notice a variety of conveyances around their busy town.
The pair encounter 22 types of vocational vehicles as they pass various sites, including a fire engine leaving a firehouse, a school bus approaching a school, and a tractor trailer delivering goods to a supermarket. Narrated in rhyming quatrains, the book describes the jobs that each wheeled machine does. The text uses simple vocabulary and sentences, with sight words aplenty. Some of the rhymes don't scan as well as others, and the description of the mail truck’s role ("A mail truck brings / letters and cards / to mailboxes / in people's yards) ignores millions of readers living in yardless dwellings. The colorful digitally illustrated spreads are crowded with animal characters of every type hustling and bustling about. Although the art is busy, observant viewers may find humor in details such as a fragile item falling out of a moving truck, a line of ducks holding up traffic, and a squirrel’s spilled ice cream. For younger children enthralled by vehicles, Sally Sutton’s Roadwork (2011) and Elizabeth Verdick’s Small Walt series provide superior text and art and kinder humor. Children who have little interest in cars, trucks, and construction equipment may find this offering a yawner. Despite being advertised as a beginner book, neither text nor art recommend this as an engaging choice for children starting to read independently. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Smoother rides are out there. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-37725-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
So rocket science can be fun.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
If they haven’t already thought about their futures (and they probably haven’t), toddlers and preschoolers might start planning after perusing this cheerful first guide to scientific careers. Plump-cheeked, wide-eyed tykes with various skin and hair colors introduce different professions, including zoologist, meteorologist, aerospace engineer, and environmental scientist, depicted with cues to tip readers off to what the jobs entail. The simple text presents the sometimes-long, tongue-twisting career names while helpfully defining them in comprehensible terms. For example, an environmental scientist “helps take care of our world,” and a zoologist is defined as someone who “studies how animals behave.” Scientists in general are identified as those who “study, learn, and solve problems.” Such basic language not only benefits youngsters, but also offers adults sharing the book easy vocabulary with which to expand on conversations with kids about the professions. The title’s ebullient appearance is helped along by the typography: The jobs’ names are set in all caps, printed in color and in a larger font than the surrounding text, and emphasized with exclamation points. Additionally, the buoyant watercolors feature clues to what scientists in these fields work with, such as celestial bodies for astronomers. The youngest listeners won’t necessarily get all of this, but the book works as a rudimentary introduction to STEM topics and a shoutout to scientific endeavors.
So rocket science can be fun. (Informational picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62354-149-1
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
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