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ENOUGH WATER?

A GUIDE TO WHAT WE HAVE AND HOW WE USE IT

Cogent statistics and topic somewhat diluted by a simplistic presentation.

An exploration of our “water footprint” in infographics, with suggestions for reducing it.

Rows of water bottles or jugs give visual expression to the amount of fresh water consumed in various everyday activities or required to produce a series of common foods and other items. The numbers, all given in metric and English units, are startling: a disposable diaper requires 545 liters (or 144 gallons), for instance; a pair of jeans takes 7,600 liters (2,000 gallons); producing a smartphone consumes 910 liters (240 gallons); a single spaghetti noodle requires 1.85 liters (roughly a half gallon). Sources for these figures aren’t specified but presumably come from the technical reports that make up the bibliography. In any case, they speak for themselves—which is good, as the introductory narrative and accompanying commentary run to broad generalities (“In school, we learn that people in places like Africa do not have enough water”). The “Water-Saving Tips” at the end not only address adults and children indiscriminately, but even if rigorously adopted will result in, at best, minor local reductions in water use. A cast of white or light-skinned children add shiny faces to the bright, clean layouts.

Cogent statistics and topic somewhat diluted by a simplistic presentation. (index, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 8-10)

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-77085-819-0

Page Count: 72

Publisher: Firefly

Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016

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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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YOUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE

A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts.

From a Caldecott and Sibert honoree, an invitation to take a mind-expanding journey from the surface of our planet to the furthest reaches of the observable cosmos.

Though Chin’s assumption that we are even capable of understanding the scope of the universe is quixotic at best, he does effectively lead viewers on a journey that captures a sense of its scale. Following the model of Kees Boeke’s classic Cosmic View: The Universe in Forty Jumps (1957), he starts with four 8-year-old sky watchers of average height (and different racial presentations). They peer into a telescope and then are comically startled by the sudden arrival of an ostrich that is twice as tall…and then a giraffe that is over twice as tall as that…and going onward and upward, with ellipses at each page turn connecting the stages, past our atmosphere and solar system to the cosmic web of galactic superclusters. As he goes, precisely drawn earthly figures and features in the expansive illustrations give way to ever smaller celestial bodies and finally to glimmering swirls of distant lights against gulfs of deep black before ultimately returning to his starting place. A closing recap adds smaller images and additional details. Accompanying the spare narrative, valuable side notes supply specific lengths or distances and define their units of measure, accurately explain astronomical phenomena, and close with the provocative observation that “the observable universe is centered on us, but we are not in the center of the entire universe.”

A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts. (afterword, websites, further reading) (Informational picture book. 8-10)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-8234-4623-0

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House

Review Posted Online: April 11, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020

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