A timely if unpolished entry in the Little People, BIG DREAMS series.
A first introduction to the greatest scientist of the past half-century.
Hawking makes a worthy but not an easy subject for an elementary-grade profile, as the likelihood that younger audiences aren’t really up on the ins and outs of quantum theory or gravitational singularities limits the author’s tally of his scientific contributions to a mention (sans meaningful context) of “Hawking radiation.” His other claim to fame, as an exemplar of the triumph of mind over physical disability, is far easier to grasp. For this, Hunt’s cartoon-style illustrations of a smiling scientist with idealized features on an oversized head help reinforce the notion that, as Hawking put it, “However difficult life may seem, there is always something that you can do and succeed at.” He leans on a cane before a wall of mathematical notations, takes his children for a spin on his wheelchair, and lectures to a rapt audience. The author (or an uncredited translator) uses some inept phrasing—a bald observation that eventually he “lost his voice and found a new one with a robotic drawl” can only leave readers confused, for instance. Illustrations of crowds place the white scientist among diverse gatherings. A closing note offers photos and a bit more detail plus a trio of titles for older readers.
A timely if unpolished entry in the Little People, BIG DREAMS series. (Picture book/biography. 5-7)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-78603-333-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
Elevating and evocative.
A chromatic tribute to pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981).
Painting on rough brown paper in his typically elemental style, Raschka offers images of two brown hands and a keyboard creating music evoked by flowing swirls and bubbles of color—adding hand-lettered comments that highlight the idea of the player’s active agency: “It was Mary’s idea to play the piano at three. It was Mary’s idea to play the piano for me.” In a biographical afterword, he traces Williams’ career from child prodigy to jazz icon, which included a turn away from performing at one point to teaching and other pursuits, and then closes with a portrait and an eloquent passage from her Jazz for the Soul album urging “attentive participation” from listeners in order to “reap the full therapeutic rewards that good music always brings to a tired, disturbed soul.” Along with offering inspiration to young musicians, and like the other tributes to jazz greats that he has been writing and illustrating since the beginning of his career, this loving remembrance captures rich hints of his subject’s joy and sound. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Elevating and evocative. (Informational picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: May 16, 2023
ISBN: 9780063210509
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
An animated entry about a common backyard miracle.
A caterpillar’s journey from egg to butterfly…or maybe moth.
“A caterpillar,” McCloskey writes, alongside an inside peek at a specimen with important parts labeled, “is a tube with a stomach.” As impersonal (and true) as that may be, his endearing cartoon images of various kinds of caterpillars will give young readers good cause to join two budding investigators—one light-skinned, the other dark-skinned—and a cat in learning about eggs, instars (or stages), anatomy, cocoons, and chrysalises on the way to witnessing in sequential views a set of marvelous transformations. Nearly every figure in the cleanly drawn scenes, including the cat, offers simple facts and playful comments on the way: “And what do you think comes out…of the chrysalis or the cocoon?” “A big baboon?” “NO!” “A small raccoon?” “NO!” “A dish that ran away with the spoon?” “NO!” Along with pointing out physical differences between butterflies and moths, McCloskey goes on to depict examples of both posed next to their different-looking juvenile forms and closes with a quick summation of the monarch’s migratory life cycle.
An animated entry about a common backyard miracle. (Graphic nonfiction. 5-7)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781662665080
Page Count: 36
Publisher: TOON Books/Astra Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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