A super-sized snow celebration by the authors of Cool Woods: A Trip Around the World’s Boreal Forest (2003) includes weather predictions, snow formation, animals in winter, and bits about blizzards, avalanches, and glaciers. There are thumbnail sketches of historic and modern snow studiers, disaster stories, folktales, invented diaries, and tips on saving the environment. They include plenty of delightfully odd facts, too, e.g., “gray jays’ saliva has a glue-like quality, allowing them to stick seeds high up in trees, well above the snow.” There’s some questionable science, such as: “We have winter because the sun has farther to travel to reach north in winter than it does in summer. And that makes the north colder in winter.” It’s not the distance from the sun, though, but the angle of rays that’s important. Drawings by Owl magazine artist Thurman add to the humor and break up too-dense blocks of text. Includes glossary and index, but no sources for folktales or facts. Over-packed, but fun for browsing. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 19, 2004
ISBN: 0-88776-670-6
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2004
Remarking that ``nothing about the weather is very simple,'' Simon goes on to describe how the sun, atmosphere, earth's rotation, ground cover, altitude, pollution, and other factors influence it; briefly, he also tells how weather balloons gather information. Even for this outstanding author, it's a tough, complex topic, and he's not entirely successful in simplifying it; moreover, the import of the striking uncaptioned color photos here isn't always clear. One passage—``Cumulus clouds sometimes build up into towering masses called cumulus congestus, or swelling cumulus, which may turn into cumulonimbus clouds''—is superimposed on a blue-gray, cloud-covered landscape. But which kind of clouds are these? Another photo, in blue-black and white, shows what might be precipitation in the upper atmosphere, or rain falling on a darkened landscape, or...? Generally competent and certainly attractive, but not Simon's best. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-10546-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
The Pumpkin Book (32 pp.; $16.95; Sept. 15; 0-8234-1465-5): From seed to vine and blossom to table, Gibbons traces the growth cycle of everyone’s favorite autumn symbol—the pumpkin. Meticulous drawings detail the transformation of tiny seeds to the colorful gourds that appear at roadside stands and stores in the fall. Directions for planting a pumpkin patch, carving a jack-o’-lantern, and drying the seeds give young gardeners the instructions they need to grow and enjoy their own golden globes. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-8234-1465-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999
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