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THE SECRET PROJECT

Name: THE SECRET PROJECT
Author: Jonah Winter
ISBN: 978-1-4814-6913-5

by Jonah Winter ; illustrated by Jeanette Winter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 2017

An astonishing way to lay the groundwork for such works for older readers as Steve Sheinkin’s Bomb (2012), this is a...

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A picture book takes on the creation of the atomic bomb.

“In the beginning,” the story opens, with overtones of Genesis, and it does, indeed, become a story of creation and elemental powers of the universe. The first two pages suggest a Roxaboxen-style celebration of a desert playscape, but then the secret project—the Manhattan Project—unfolds. The local boys’ school is closed, scientists arrive at a place that doesn’t even really exist yet, and shadowy figures get to work creating a “Gadget” of enormous power. Ingeniously, Jeanette Winter’s illustrations balance the dark, cloaked secrecy of Los Alamos, signified by silhouetted figures viewed through windows, with the bright beauty of the outer world—the mesas, cacti, coyotes, prairie dogs, and desert mountains; Hopi artists carving dolls out of wood “as they have done for centuries”; and Georgia O’Keefe painting a gorgeous desert scene. Jonah Winter’s text is eloquent, and his mother’s digital illustrations evoke a beautiful landscape in danger if the scientists’ contraption works. When the bomb explodes, the monstrous mushroom cloud grows over four pages, concluding with a pitch-black double-page spread and no further text, which will leave young readers eager to know more. An informative author’s note will help adults provide the historical context.

An astonishing way to lay the groundwork for such works for older readers as Steve Sheinkin’s Bomb (2012), this is a beautifully told introduction to a difficult subject. (Informational picture book. 5-9)

Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4814-6913-5

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HISTORY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
BIRD REHEARSAL
by Jonah Winter ; illustrated by Stacy Innerst

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SNOW MAN
by Jonah Winter ; illustrated by Jeanette Winter

- BOOK REVIEW
THE LITTLE OWL & THE BIG TREE
by Jonah Winter ; illustrated by Jeanette Winter

- PROFILES
Jonah Winter

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THE MANGROVE TREE

PLANTING TREES TO FEED FAMILIES

by Susan L. Roth & Cindy Trumbore & illustrated by Susan L. Roth ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2011

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Here is a grand deed, as basic as a science-fair project, that had a profound application bringing health and economic bounty to a small coastal town, Hargigo, in Eritrea. Dr. Gordon Santo had a brainstorm: Why not plant mangrove trees in the waters off Hargigo? The leaves would feed the town’s hungry herds of sheep and goats and provide wood for fuel; the trees’ root system would attract fish (a food and revenue source); and the trees themselves would do what trees are so good at—converting carbon dioxide to oxygen. Roth’s artwork is a treat, cut-paper and fabric collages of intense, shimmering color on a ground of paper that is electric with thick veins of fiber (photos join glossary in backmatter). Roth and Trumbore’s cumulative verse goes about its merry way on the left page—“These are the shepherds / Who watch the goats / and watch the sheep / That eat the leaves”—while a narrative on the right takes readers on Santo’s journey. He has named the project Manzanar, after the internment camp where he was placed during World War II, because he wanted to turn that experience (where he first grew desert plants) into something good. Hitting home hard is the project’s simple practicality: no high-tech, no great infusions of capital or energy—in a word, motivating, in the best possible way. (Informational picture book. 6-9)

Pub Date: April 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-1-60060-459-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Lee & Low Books

Review Posted Online: April 13, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011

Categories:

CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
BUTTERFLY FOR A KING
by Susan L. Roth & Cindy Trumbore ; illustrated by Susan L. Roth

- BOOK REVIEW
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
by Susan L. Roth ; illustrated by Susan L. Roth

- BOOK REVIEW
MALALA YOUSAFZAI
by Karen Leggett Abouraya ; illustrated by Susan L. Roth

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THE SNAIL HOUSE

by Allan Ahlberg & illustrated by Gillian Tyler ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

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This homespun tale, heard at Grandma's knee, will transport readers just as it does her young listeners. As the story goes, one day three children shrink until they're tiny enough to slip beneath the door. Out in the towering garden they discover a spiral-shaped house atop a snail: " 'And it was a proper house too, with a door and windows, roof and chimney, table, chairs, three little beds, curtains, and crockery—everything!' ” Displaying an exquisite eye for natural detail viewed from an inch above ground level, Tyler follows the diminutive travelers through a wonderland of wildflowers, grassy clumps, and berry bushes, past inquisitive looking insects and, among other adventures, near-disastrous encounters with a falling apple, a thrush, and a dandelion thistle—all in miniature. Their outward journey ends at a stream's edge; after a wordless spread spent contemplating the rushing water they make a quick return to a more conventional home and size. The author and illustrator both keep the boundaries between the real world and that of the imagination distinct but easily bridgeable, and the children's experiences always seem more exhilarating than perilous. (Picture book. 5-8)