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IT STARTED WITH A BIG BANG

Name: IT STARTED WITH A BIG BANG
Author: Floor Bal
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0255-8

THE ORIGIN OF EARTH, YOU AND EVERYTHING ELSE

by Floor Bal ; illustrated by Sebastiaan Van Doninck ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2019

A simple, effective introduction to some big ideas for curious young readers.

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From nothing to “a big tangled web” of life, the origin of the universe and everything in it.

Science journalist Bal pares the most commonly accepted models for the origin of the universe and development of life down to bare essentials, presenting them as accepted fact and gliding over some obvious questions. (Where did the stuff that fills the universe come from?) Nevertheless, this is an appealing addition to a small shelf of titles about cosmic beginnings for the very young. Unlike Marion Dane Bauer’s The Stuff of Stars, illustrated by Ekua Holmes (2018), it stops with the accomplishments of humans as a group, ending with the moon landing rather than with the individual reader. Unlike Karen Fox’s Older Than the Stars, illustrated by Nancy Davis (2010), there’s no supplemental backmatter. Special to this version of the vast history are Van Doninck’s sinuous illustrations, which explode with playful detail, swirls of color in the darkness of space, and surprising landscapes. One spread shows a wave of increasingly complex sea animals; another, the dinosaurs’ world; and a third, the catastrophic arrival of an asteroid and the dark world that followed. Earth is repopulated with dark-furred apes learning to walk upright; lighter skinned cave artists; then farmers, herders, travelers, and finally astronauts of varied skin tones. First published in 2018 in the Netherlands, this was translated by the Canadian publisher for this English edition.

A simple, effective introduction to some big ideas for curious young readers. (Informational picture book. 5-9)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-5253-0255-8

Page Count: 34

Publisher: Kids Can

Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S DINOSAURS & PREHISTORIC CREATURES | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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I AM GRAVITY

by Henry Herz ; illustrated by Mercè López ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 15, 2024

An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe.

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An introduction to gravity.

The book opens with the most iconic demonstration of gravity, an apple falling. Throughout, Herz tackles both huge concepts—how gravity compresses atoms to form stars and how black holes pull all kinds of matter toward them—and more concrete ones: how gravity allows you to jump up and then come back down to the ground. Gravity narrates in spare yet lyrical verse, explaining how it creates planets and compresses atoms and comparing itself to a hug. “My embrace is tight enough that you don’t float like a balloon, but loose enough that you can run and leap and play.” Gravity personifies itself at times: “I am stubborn—the bigger things are, the harder I pull.” Beautiful illustrations depict swirling planets and black holes alongside racially diverse children playing, running, and jumping, all thanks to gravity. Thorough backmatter discusses how Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity and explains Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. While at times Herz’s explanations may be a bit too technical for some readers, burgeoning scientists will be drawn in.

An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe. (Informational picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: April 15, 2024

ISBN: 9781668936849

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tilbury House

Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS
edited by Henry Herz

- BOOK REVIEW
WINK
edited by Henry Herz ; illustrated by Adam Gustavson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE HITHERTO SECRET EXPERIMENTS OF MARIE CURIE
edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt & Henry Herz

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A PLACE FOR RAIN

by Michelle Schaub ; illustrated by Blanca Gómez ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 12, 2024

Enticing and eco-friendly.

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Why and how to make a rain garden.

Having watched through their classroom window as a “rooftop-rushing, gutter-gushing” downpour sloppily flooded their streets and playground, several racially diverse young children follow their tan-skinned teacher outside to lay out a shallow drainage ditch beneath their school’s downspout, which leads to a patch of ground, where they plant flowers (“native ones with tough, thick roots,” Schaub specifies) to absorb the “mucky runoff” and, in time, draw butterflies and other wildlife. The author follows up her lilting rhyme with more detailed explanations of a rain garden’s function and construction, including a chart to help determine how deep to make the rain garden and a properly cautionary note about locating a site’s buried utility lines before starting to dig; she concludes with a set of leads to online information sources. Gómez goes more for visual appeal than realism. In her scenes, a group of smiling, round-headed, very small children in rain gear industriously lay large stones along a winding border with little apparent effort; nevertheless, her images of the little ones planting generic flowers that are tall and lush just a page turn later do make the outdoorsy project look like fun.

Enticing and eco-friendly. (Picture book. 5-7)