An overly fact-packed science book that’s not written for the squeamish.
Some of nature’s toughest animals battle one-on-one in a set of five death matches.
When animals go into battle with each other, lots of factors can determine who will win, from a creature’s tough skin to its ability to inject poison in its foe. This work collects five books that detail what might happen in to-the-death fights between a Komodo dragon and a king cobra; a tarantula and a scorpion; a whale and a giant squid; a hyena and a honey badger; and a falcon and a hawk. Before the result is played out as a what-if mini-story with photorealistic illustrations, readers will find pages and pages of facts. For anyone who likes trivia about animals, each fight contains volumes of factoids and bite-sized lessons in biology. So much so that small sections, each labeled “Fact,” are piled with “Bonus Facts,” “Fun Facts,” “Interesting Facts,” “Gross Facts,” “Yummy Facts,” and “Sharp Facts” (in relation to teeth) in addition to “Dangerous Definitions,” warnings for humans, and “Did You Know?” sections. It’s quite a lot, enough to make one exhausted from information overload before the final verdict. The fights pull no punches, with animals getting bones broken and poisoned to death. Sometimes the logic doesn’t exactly follow. After a snake kills a Komodo dragon, the next line in the text reads, “Maybe next time, the Komodo dragon will bite first.” Seems unlikely. Occasional humorous asides (“The Tarantulas would be a great name for a football team”) keep the book from being a totally dry undertaking.
An overly fact-packed science book that’s not written for the squeamish. (who has the advantage checklists) (Nonfiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-84155-8
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A solid addition to the climate-change canon for those interested in saving a fragile world.
Dire consequences attend the unchecked melting of Arctic sea ice.
The more the ice melts, the more the Arctic climate changes. The more that air and ground temperatures rise, the more the frozen ecosystem’s inhabitants, including plants and insects, suffer from dwindling habitats; threats to food sources; and imbalances in feeding, breeding, and migration patterns. Solid information is packed into this brief work that lucidly raises the alarm for young readers, with each spread capturing the thrilling, chilling north in rich, dramatic blue swathes of seawater set off by icy glaciers and snowdrifts. Child-friendly, occasionally cluttered paintings, some with labels, highlight polar bears and their Arctic neighbors; a spread of vignettes illustrates how changes to plant life affect wildlife. One labeled spread explains all: As seawater warms, it absorbs sunlight, thus heating more water and melting more ice. One poignant spread depicts a bewildered polar bear mom, eyeing readers and flanked by her twin cubs, drifting on a shrinking ice floe. Two human children, one brown-skinned and one pale, occasionally appear in the illustrations as well. The book ends on a hopeful note, reassuring youngsters that “we still have time to save polar bears and slow the loss of Arctic ice.” A note in the backmatter offers conservation tips.
A solid addition to the climate-change canon for those interested in saving a fragile world. (author’s note, bibliography, additional sources) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-14319-8
Page Count: 42
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A refreshing dive past some of our world’s marine wonders.
Denizens of the deep crowd oversized pages in this populous gallery of ocean life.
The finny and tentacled sea creatures drifting or arrowing through Zommer’s teeming watercolor seascapes are generally recognizable, and they are livened rather than distorted by the artist’s tendency to place human eyes on the same side of many faces, Picasso-like. Headers such as “Ink-teresting” or “In for the krill” likewise add a playful tone to the pithy comments on anatomical features or behavioral quirks that accompany the figures (which include, though rarely, a white human diver). The topical spreads begin with an overview of ocean families (“Some are hairy, some have scales, some have fins and some are boneless and brainless!”), go on to introduce select animals in no particular order from sea horses and dragonets to penguins and pufferfish, then close with cautionary remarks on chemical pollution and floating plastic. The author invites readers as they go to find both answers to such questions as “Why does a crab run sideways?” and also a small sardine hidden in some, but not all, of the pictures. For the latter he provides a visual key at the end, followed by a basic glossary.
A refreshing dive past some of our world’s marine wonders. (index) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-500-65119-3
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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