A true tale of life in space, ably if not spectacularly spun.
The story of an experiment designed to answer a high school student’s question to NASA.
Told in first person—perhaps not the best choice as the arachnid narrator is called upon to describe her own death and subsequent events in the later going—the chronicle begins in 1972 with a query about whether spiders can spin webs in space. Popped into small tubes with dead flies for provisions, Arabella and another orb spider, Anita, were transported to Skylab 3 in 1973 and released into cages where, after a day or so of floating and a “wonky” preliminary effort, both actually produced creditable versions of their earthly webs. A better title for this might be Spiders in Space, because along with a tally of scientific findings, Arabella goes on post-mortem to describe several later visits to the International Space Station by various eight-legged relatives (one of whom, a Johnson jumping spider named Nefertiti, actually “made it home again” in 2012). “That’s one small step for man but one giant leap for spiders!” she concludes. The simple illustrations largely tend to close-ups of Arabella, and if all of the adults in view seem to be White, Kordić does tuck in one late scene of a racially diverse trio of modern young children comparing a “spidernaut” with a specimen in a classroom terrarium.
A true tale of life in space, ably if not spectacularly spun. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-8075-0441-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
An additional choice for young readers interested in animal traits.
When King Lion holds a race to honor the fastest animal, Cheetah easily wins the title.
Cheetah runs 75 miles per hour in the 100-yard dash, but all the other animals clamor to show their own great speeds in different kinds of contests. Large and small, land and sea animals, birds and beasts, reptiles and insects: They tell their king the facts about their abilities. Husky says: “I am the fastest over long distances.” Ostrich wants all participants to “run on two legs to be fair to everyone.” A sea turtle thinks that the race should be held in the water, an idea heartily endorsed by a black marlin. A majestic peregrine falcon insists on the sky because these birds fly at 240 miles per hour, but a small free-tailed bat pipes up and says that the race “should be at night!” What’s a wise ruler to do? The king creates “an Olympics” with multiple events. Realistic illustrations in a somewhat dull palette of browns, blues, and greens bring animals together (not always to scale) in a dusty savanna landscape. The folkloric telling contrasts with the factual speeds of the animals included in the text. Educational activities in the backmatter, some beyond the ability of the intended readers of the main text, focus on mathematical and scientific comparisons. A Spanish-language edition publishes simultaneously in paperback only.
An additional choice for young readers interested in animal traits. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-60718-739-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Arbordale Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A winning, and necessary, update to Kathleen Zoehfeld’s Terrible Tyrannosaurs (2001, illustrated by Lucia Washburn).
Tyrannosaurus rex poses with 10 recently discovered relatives in this toothy portrait gallery.
Speaking as “Dr. Steve,” co-author Brusatte—paleontologist and tyrannosaur lover—explains to young dinomanes how the titular tyranno (formally dubbed Qianzhousaurus, nicknamed for its long nose) was unearthed and reconstructed before going on to introduce nine other 21st-century discoveries. Each comes with a general description, a “fact file” of basic statistics, a collective timeline that neatly groups contemporaries, and a realistically posed and rendered individual portrait in a natural setting. Following a simple but effective activity involving chalk, a tape measure, and a very large expanse of concrete, an equally cogent infographic at the end illustrates size extremes in this prehistoric clan by juxtaposing images of a human child, a like-sized Kileskus, a full size T. Rex, and a (slightly smaller) school bus. The dinos display a wide range of coloration and skin and feather patterns as well as distinctive crests or other physical features, but Dr. Steve, who is white, is the only individualized human figure until a closing album of snapshot photos.
A winning, and necessary, update to Kathleen Zoehfeld’s Terrible Tyrannosaurs (2001, illustrated by Lucia Washburn). (pronunciation guide, glossary, museum list) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-249093-3
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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