Lively and wondrous—readers will be star-struck.
This biography of astronomer Edwin Hubble, once a boy looking up at the night sky, is a tribute to his life’s work and the joys of staying curious.
When he was n he was a boy, Edwin’s mother and grandfather were supportive of his interests, but when he was older, his father forbade him from studying astronomy. Hubble spent years working as a teacher, but his mind continued to dwell in the stars. After his father’s death, he followed his dreams, worked at Mount Wilson Observatory, studied galaxies, and proved both that the universe is much bigger than was previously thought—depicted in a striking double gatefold—and that it is expanding. The spreads featuring sprawling night skies dotted with stars are especially beguiling. And the book’s lovely pacing affords ample space to pay tribute to the sense of wonder that guided Hubble throughout his life, the repeated refrain being a set of three questions, printed in silver type, that haunted him: “How many stars are in the sky? How did the universe begin? Where did it come from?” The portion of the book about his discovery that the Andromeda Nebula is a separate galaxy gives credit where it’s due, paying tribute to Henrietta Swan Leavitt, an astronomer whose work came before Hubble’s. The story’s concluding direct address to readers—“Look….Look up at the stars”—is genuinely inspiring. All characters are White. Backmatter provides more details on Hubble’s discoveries and includes a bibliography.
Lively and wondrous—readers will be star-struck. (Picture book/biography. 6-12.)Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-59270-317-3
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Enchanted Lion Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature.
In a new entry in the Over and Under series, a paddleboarder glimpses humpback whales leaping, floats over a populous kelp forest, and explores life on a beach and in a tide pool.
In this tale inspired by Messner’s experiences in Monterey Bay in California, a young tan-skinned narrator, along with their light-skinned mom and tan-skinned dad, observes in quiet, lyrical language sights and sounds above and below the sea’s serene surface. Switching perspectives and angles of view and often leaving the family’s red paddleboards just tiny dots bobbing on distant swells, Neal’s broad seascapes depict in precise detail bat stars and anchovies, kelp bass, and sea otters going about their business amid rocky formations and the swaying fronds of kelp…and, further out, graceful moon jellies and—thrillingly—massive whales in open waters beneath gliding pelicans and other shorebirds. After returning to the beach at day’s end to search for shells and to spot anemones and decorator crabs, the child ends with nighttime dreams of stars in the sky meeting stars in the sea. Appended nature notes on kelp and 21 other types of sealife fill in details about patterns and relationships in this rich ecosystem. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
More thoughtful, sometimes exhilarating encounters with nature. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-79720-347-8
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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