A challenging overview conveyed with authority and contagious enthusiasm.
A lively look at some of the grand and mysterious phenomena that keep the observable universe ticking.
It’s Cosmology 101, as pale, red-haired fictive tour guide Dr. Celeste Aster puts it, and as she bounds off into a whirl of Herji’s text-heavy cosmic cartoon montages leading her blond, brown-skinned Gen-Z niece Gabrielle with guest lecturer (and real Nobel Prize Laureate) Michel Mayor panting along in tow, readers hoping to keep pace had better bring their scientific A games. After kicking off with a review of our changing conceptions of gravity, Einstein’s theory of general relativity, and the Standard Model of Cosmology, she explains the importance of core discoveries such as the cosmic microwave background and (with a nod to discoverer Henrietta Swan Leavitt) the value of Cepheid variables for measuring interstellar distances. Dr. Aster follows up by ushering “the biggest rock stars of the Universe…BLACK HOLES!” into view to explain what they are and how their collisions can produce gravitational waves, then closes by adding dark matter and dark energy to the Big Bang as mysteries still waiting to be understood. The full-color illustrations of human figures in animated poses, including glimpses of Einstein in skimpy bathing suit bottoms and cheery looking fundamental particles bonding or whizzing past each other, help lighten the substantial informational load.
A challenging overview conveyed with authority and contagious enthusiasm. (glossary) (Graphic nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9783907293751
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Helvetiq
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change.
Testa’s connection to and respect for nature compelled her to begin championing animal causes at the age of 10, and this desire to have an impact later propelled her to dedicate her life to fighting plastic pollution. Starting with the history of plastic and how it’s produced, Testa acknowledges the benefits of plastics for humanity but also the many ways it harms our planet. Instead of relying on recycling—which is both insufficient and ineffective—she urges readers to follow two additional R’s: “refuse” and “raise awareness.” Readers are encouraged to do their part, starting with small things like refusing to use plastic straws and water bottles and eventually working up to using their voices to influence business and policy change. In the process, she highlights other youth advocates working toward the same cause. Short chapters include personal examples, such as observations of plastic pollution in Mauritius, her maternal grandparents’ birthplace. Testa makes her case not only against plastic pollution, but also for the work she’s done, resulting in something of a college-admissions–essay tone. Nevertheless, the first-person accounts paired with science will have an impact on readers. Unfortunately, no sources are cited and the lack of backmatter is a missed opportunity.
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change. (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22333-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
The Manhattan Project is a complex subject for a book for young readers, but Sullivan does a fine job of relating the fascinating story in clear and lively prose. The three-year Project was huge, secret and desperate, an all-out effort to beat the Nazis in the arms race. The people and places are now legendary: Oppenheimer, Los Alamos, Trinity, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Little Boy, Fat Man and Paul Tibbets. It’s a tale of brilliant scientists, shadowy spies, dreadful war, secret cities and secret lives. Despite the complicated history, this book is completely compelling, a straightforward narrative told with a light touch. Only toward the end does the voice falter, lapsing into a bit of editorializing. Still, the solid writing, attractive design, abundant photographs, suggestions for further reading that include works for young readers, websites and a glossary make this the best work on the subject for young readers. A great match with Ellen Klages’s novel The Green Glass Sea (2006). (appendix, chronology, source notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12+)
Pub Date: June 15, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-8234-1855-8
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2007
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