A scattershot assortment, easy on the eyes if only fitfully valuable for giving young inquiring minds the straight dope.
From how a hair dryer works to how cheese, chocolate, and ice cream are made, Esbaum offers simple answers to over 50 common questions.
Some of her answers are a little too simple: it’s hard to see any real difference between the two types of doorbells she describes, not quite right to characterize what the taste buds sense as “sweet, salty, bitter, sour, or just plain yucky,” and dead wrong to claim that when a rocket “is high enough to have escaped Earth’s gravity it has reached space.” Moreover, though grouped into six broad categories such as “Food” and “The Animal Kingdom,” within their rubrics, the questions and their arrangement both feel entirely arbitrary. Still, the big, square format and many bright color photos of animals, objects, and young people at work and play will encourage extended browsing. Each section includes one or more simple activities, such as a yummy demonstration of tectonic mountain-building using moistened graham crackers over a bed of whipped cream, and also a pattern recognition game that builds on previously presented facts.
A scattershot assortment, easy on the eyes if only fitfully valuable for giving young inquiring minds the straight dope. (bibliography, index, parent tips) (Nonfiction. 6-8)Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4263-2329-4
Page Count: 128
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Produced to celebrate the National Park Service’s upcoming centenary, a breezy invitation to prospective travelers to “get...
A family road trip through several national parks transforms young Jane’s feelings about missing out on a summer of online fun with her friends.
“There’s absolutely nothing to see here,” Jane emails fretfully as her family drives through the scenic Smoky Mountains and canoes past alligators and manatees in the Everglades. But once her dad gets her to put the tablet away and look through a telescope at the night skies over Big Bend National Park, her attitude transforms: “OH WOW!” Soon she’s tiptoeing over the Grand Canyon’s Skywalk like an acrobat, playing pirate on a raft down the Colorado River, scouting out “Mountain lions, buffalo, and bears. Oh my!” in Yellowstone—and, discovering that she’s misplaced her electronic device, sending written postcards to her friends from Yosemite. Furthermore, once back home, what better way to debrief than a backyard cookout under the stars? Giving blonde Jane and the rest of her white family broad, pleasant features, Rogers sends them smiling and singing their way through a succession of natural wonders, with bears and bald eagles, footnotes (adult supervision required on the Skywalk, for instance), and only a few fellow, occasionally diverse tourists in the background. Endpaper maps track the long itinerary, and a (select) list of other national parks and sites in each state offers more destinations.
Produced to celebrate the National Park Service’s upcoming centenary, a breezy invitation to prospective travelers to “get out there!” (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-246835-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
An appealing invitation to consider the nuances in there being “no place like home.”
Tate would love to have a wild animal in the house…but for some reason, they’re not interested in moving in.
Determined to “rescue” the creatures she loves, Tate—a small, brown-skinned child with big, soulful eyes—writes letters to a variety of animals, declaring, “I want to save you from the wild!” Discouragingly, the lion responds to her offer of a safe home, a bath, and free meals with a “Proud Pass,” while the orca turns up its nose at the idea of living in Tate’s kiddie pool (“Sometimes I swim forty miles a day”). The grizzly bear emphasizes that it needs a den far bigger than Tate could provide (“I’ll be 800 pounds in no time”). Though some readers may question whether the trash-picking raccoons depicted in the story are really living in the wild, the author’s point about forcing wildlife into unnatural habitats is well taken, as is her closing suggestion that supporting animal conservation and rescue organizations is a better way to go. As for Tate, readers will be happy to see her connect at last with the stray dog that’s been shadowing her from the beginning and quickly becomes the perfect recipient for the promised home, bath, and meals.
An appealing invitation to consider the nuances in there being “no place like home.” (ways to help animals, websites for animal rescue organizations, author’s note) (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: June 18, 2024
ISBN: 9780593569078
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
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