Ineffectively makes a point that’s moot anyway.
Countering a perceived notion that art and science are wholly separate pursuits, White points out some of the many connections between the two.
Operating on a debatable assumption that this is a case that needs to be made, the author argues that art and science “have a lot in common!” and “make a great team.” Along with characterizing Galileo, George Washington Carver, and 17th-century botanical painter Maria Sibylla Merian as scientist illustrators and adding a few examples of generic modern collaborators, she depicts a dark-skinned child with paintbrushes and sketchbook working on nature studies and a tan-skinned youngster wielding, in counterpart, a telescope and other science gear. The message is delivered with a heavy earnestness unlikely to stir strong reactions in readers, and White does her thesis no favors with simplistic claims that art and science aren’t taught in class together and that few, if any, books incorporate both topics. With similar lack of background work, she closes with a hands-on project: a version of an “origami” fan (representing the way that part of the James Webb Space Telescope was folded for launch) that has to be glued together. Diverse human figures in the pictures include a musician (using, in unexplained ways, “science and math to understand sound”) who relies on a wheelchair.
Ineffectively makes a point that’s moot anyway. (glossary, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9780823459698
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe.
An introduction to gravity.
The book opens with the most iconic demonstration of gravity, an apple falling. Throughout, Herz tackles both huge concepts—how gravity compresses atoms to form stars and how black holes pull all kinds of matter toward them—and more concrete ones: how gravity allows you to jump up and then come back down to the ground. Gravity narrates in spare yet lyrical verse, explaining how it creates planets and compresses atoms and comparing itself to a hug. “My embrace is tight enough that you don’t float like a balloon, but loose enough that you can run and leap and play.” Gravity personifies itself at times: “I am stubborn—the bigger things are, the harder I pull.” Beautiful illustrations depict swirling planets and black holes alongside racially diverse children playing, running, and jumping, all thanks to gravity. Thorough backmatter discusses how Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity and explains Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. While at times Herz’s explanations may be a bit too technical for some readers, burgeoning scientists will be drawn in.
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe. (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: April 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668936849
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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