Like Wexler's Jack-in-the-Pulpit (1993), a lucid look at a familiar plant with intriguing characteristics and adaptations. Named for the 18th-century British queen, this sturdy survivor is widespread in the northern hemisphere. Detailing its biennial cycle, the author compares the member of the Apiaceae family to its close relative the carrot, naming and describing its parts and their functions (the movement of the dead seedheads is especially interesting). Clear, informative color photos (some magnified) appear on each handsome spread. An excellent introduction to the rewards of botany as exemplified by learning about a particularly lovely species. (Nonfiction. 7-12)
Pub Date: April 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-8075-6710-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1994
A spirited, duplicable depiction of STEM fun.
Ellie navigates secrets and gender conflicts while trying to create an amazing birthday gift.
Ellie and her best friend, Kit, overhear Kit’s mother talking about Kit’s upcoming birthday, and she mentions “Miss Penelope”—the name Kit’s picked out for a dog (her stepfather’s and sister’s dog allergies complicate her wish). When Ellie’s first attempt at a birthday gift doesn’t go so well (Ellie has a healthy, relaxed attitude about trial and error and perseverance), she decides to make a doghouse for Miss Penelope. To complete such a grand project in so few days, she enlists help from eager engineering student Toby and an artistic trio of girls named Madison, Taylor, and McKinley (they draw a comic book called The Presidents)—but she doesn’t let them know about one another, as the trio and the neighborhood boys don’t get along. Ellie feels guilty about her deception as well as for deceiving Kit so she can spend time away from her working on the doghouse. Eventually, she’s caught and must come clean. This she does neatly in a way that explicitly rejects the idea that activities and objects are gendered (e.g., boys and girls can both like engineering and tea parties). Throughout, she engineers both pranks and inventive ways around various obstacles, always using common materials. (Mourning supplies diagrams of both, amplifying the humor.) The twist ending is not what most readers will expect. Characters lack physical descriptions, but Ellie’s depicted with pale skin on the cover.
A spirited, duplicable depiction of STEM fun. (tool guide) (Fiction. 7-11)Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68119-519-3
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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