A captivating addition to the paleontology shelf.
Discover a time capsule of preserved ancient animals hidden within L.A.’s La Brea Tar Pits.
Dinosaurs are always a fan favorite, and a veritable plethora of relevant books exist to tempt youngsters, but what about the Pleistocene, with its fascinatingly strange ground sloths or dire wolves? Stremer illuminates this prehistoric period by sharing a secret: In a bustling Southern California neighborhood, under an innocuous-looking smudge of sticky tar, lie thousands of fossilized animal, insect, and plant remains. Jumping backward in time, the narrative follows an endearing mammoth who mistakes the tar for a watering hole and becomes trapped. Its struggle is tense and dramatic; young readers will feel for the animal as it trumpets for help, eyes wide with fear. Abruptly, the language becomes more clinical. Pitched to a young audience, the text clearly conveys facts about fossilization, covers the arrival of Native Americans and then European settlers, and explains why the site is so scientifically significant. Stremer never explicitly acknowledges, however, that the skull the scientists are excavating once belonged to the frightened mammoth, a potentially confusing omission. Strong backmatter provides more information on the tar pits; readers will appreciate the useful key of all the creatures depicted. Clean, earth-toned digital cartoon illustrations portray both extinct and current animals in easy-to-interpret tableaux. Human characters are diverse.
A captivating addition to the paleontology shelf. (selected sources) (Informational picture book. 5-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781665953177
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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
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