A clever presentation of some basic anatomy by a duo with talented hands indeed.
Space travelers discover the utility of hands and what’s inside them: bones, muscles, and nerves.
The Australian creative team who introduced readers to microbes in Do Not Lick This Book (2017) returns with a similarly metafictive introduction to our structural insides. Zooming through space to a friend’s birthday party, Quog and Oort accidentally crash their ship on Earth. Breaking the fourth wall, the narrator asks readers to help these aliens by turning the page to open their space ship. Quog, a green blob, is impressed by this demonstration of the utility of hands and immediately grows some but finds she also needs bones, muscles, and nerves. Readers are given plenty of opportunities to interact with the story: putting their hands on the pages so that Oort, a pink, three-eyed gas cloud, can see inside; lifting the book; and even turning a page with their eyes closed. There’s a departing high-five after the ETs successfully fix their vessel, then a grand, wordless spread shows what hands and arms are really good for: hugs. A final tongue-in-cheek spread offers instructions for growing your own extra hands. The uncluttered, flat design of the playful illustrations has the air of animation and nicely contrasts with three-dimensional views of bones, muscles and ligaments, and nerves set on a surprisingly pink background. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-16-inch double-page spreads viewed at 87.5% of actual size.)
A clever presentation of some basic anatomy by a duo with talented hands indeed. (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-17537-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Enticing and eco-friendly.
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)Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781324052357
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Norton Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Engaging, well-chosen images and a clear, coherent text illuminate the importance of empathy for the world’s inhabitants.
Large color photographs (occasionally composed of montages) and accessible, simple text highlight global similarities and differences, always focusing on our universal connections.
While child readers may not recognize Manzano, the Puerto Rican actress who played Maria on Sesame Street, adults will recognize her as a trusted diverse voice. In her endnote, she explains her desire to “encourage lively conversations about shared experiences.” Starting out with the familiar, home and community, the text begins with “How many WONDERFUL PEOPLE do you know?” Then it moves out to the world: “Did you know there are about 8 BILLION PEOPLE on the planet?” The photo essay features the usual concrete similarities and differences found in many books of this type, such as housing (a Mongolian yurt opposite a Hong Kong apartment building overlooking a basketball court), food (dumplings, pizza, cotton candy, a churro, etc.), and school. Manzano also makes sure to point out likenesses in emotions, as shown in a montage of photos from countries including China, Spain, Kashmir (Pakistan/India), and the United States. At the end, a world map and thumbnail images show the locations of all photos, revealing a preponderance of examples from the U.S. and a slight underrepresentation for Africa and South America.
Engaging, well-chosen images and a clear, coherent text illuminate the importance of empathy for the world’s inhabitants. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4263-3738-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
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