Serious fun for dedicated young camera bugs.
Relying on the premise that good photos are made, not just taken, this latest in a series of creative tutorials offers a wide array of homespun projects inspired by iconic professional works.
Following a plea to exchange their smartphones for better equipment, “mini photographers,” as Seblon dubs them, will find characteristic shots from a gallery of creative photographers linked to spinoff projects using similar subjects, ideas, or techniques. Some will be challenging, such as making freeze-frame sequences à la Eadweard Muybridge or Anna Atkins–style “anthotypes” (sun prints) using sheets of prepared paper, but others require only inventively placed mirrors or particular angles of view to pull off—or even just drawing on a printed photo, as Man Ray did to turn the back of an unclothed model into a violin (a “cheeky image,” the author notes in a deliberate double entendre). Several activities promise fun times, like sessions with pets or posing subjects wearing all their clothes at once (Madeleine Brunnmeier), and the whole course will leave budding makers, like the racially diverse duo of young experimenters Sae-Heng depicts, with not only with a firmer grasp of the history of art photography, but a better trained photographer’s eye for colors, patterns, and the creative possibilities lying all around.
Serious fun for dedicated young camera bugs. (Nonfiction. 9-13)Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780500660461
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
Like oil itself, this is a book that needs to be handled with special care.
In 1977, the oil carrier Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil into a formerly pristine Alaskan ocean inlet, killing millions of birds, animals, and fish. Despite a cleanup, crude oil is still there.
The Winters foretold the destructive powers of the atomic bomb allusively in The Secret Project (2017), leaving the actuality to the backmatter. They make no such accommodations to young audiences in this disturbing book. From the dark front cover, on which oily blobs conceal a seabird, to the rescuer’s sad face on the back, the mother-son team emphasizes the disaster. A relatively easy-to-read and poetically heightened text introduces the situation. Oil is pumped from the Earth “all day long, all night long, / day after day, year after year” in “what had been unspoiled land, home to Native people // and thousands of caribou.” The scale of extraction is huge: There’s “a giant pipeline” leading to “enormous ships.” Then, crash. Rivers of oil gush out over three full-bleed wordless pages. Subsequent scenes show rocks, seabirds, and sea otters covered with oil. Finally, 30 years later, animals have returned to a cheerful scene. “But if you lift a rock… // oil / seeps / up.” For an adult reader, this is heartbreaking. How much more difficult might this be for an animal-loving child?
Like oil itself, this is a book that needs to be handled with special care. (author’s note, further reading) (Informational picture book. 9-12)Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-3077-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
IN THE NEWS
A hardworking addition to U.S. history shelves.
In 1776, some of the most respected men in Great Britain’s American Colonies signed the Declaration of Independence, a revolutionary—but not necessarily transparent—document.
Although the declaration is one of the key documents of American history, its sometimes-archaic language may mystify young citizens of the 21st century. After a few pages of introductory information that describes the conflicts faced by colonists before the Revolutionary War, this effort presents the declaration line by line, explaining the concepts, defining confusing words and ideas, and illuminating the intent of the signers in the context of the time. Occasionally, in sections headed “Think Deeper,” the author asks pointed, thoughtful questions on a variety of issues that have never been fully resolved in the past 245 years, without devolving into revisionist history. The format places original text on verso with the translation on recto, but clever design keeps readers engaged. The double-page spreads are neatly laid out, many including portraits of Founding Fathers presented against appealing, brightly colored backgrounds that vary from spread to spread. A variety of maps, cartoon characters, and period illustrations extend the text. With a reading level appropriate to the upper grade schoolers who are often introduced to this tumultuous period of history, this engaging and surprisingly entertaining effort seems like the perfect choice to accompany and expand lesson plans. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A hardworking addition to U.S. history shelves. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-638190-48-6
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Bushel & Peck Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
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