An eye-filling showcase with much to offer both general browsers and budding biologists.
A select portrait gallery of terrestrial mammals, enhanced with close-up details and zoological notes.
Alonso (Early Cretaceous, 2015) switches from dinosaurs to extant wildlife (domesticated animals, including Homo sapiens, don’t make the cut here), presenting in no particular sequence representative members of 15 mammalian orders in dignified but lifelike poses against neutral-toned backgrounds. The accomplished artist portrays each subject not to scale but with careful exactitude—every hair, claw, spike, and wrinkle seemingly individually drawn—and surrounds each with descriptive notes printed, mostly, in a faux-cursive typeface. Along with pointing out salient physical features, the notes include species names, ranges and sizes, diets, and International Union for Conservation of Nature statuses from “Least Concern” to “Critically Endangered.” He also adds occasional inset looks at individual paws or feet, expands his section on the Chiroptera (bats) with two subgalleries of close-ups to highlight their startling diversity of facial features, and injects momentary drama by catching a hyena, a Kodiak bear, and, in a head-only shot, a puma in midroar.
An eye-filling showcase with much to offer both general browsers and budding biologists. (glossary) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63322-196-3
Page Count: 131
Publisher: Walter Foster Jr.
Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
In this glossy photo essay, the author briefly recounts the study and exploration of the moon, beginning with Stonehenge and concluding with the 1998–99 unmanned probe, Lunar Prospector. Most of the dramatic photographs come from NASA and will introduce a new generation of space enthusiasts to the past missions of Project Mercury, Gemini, and most especially the moon missions, Apollo 1–17. There are plenty of photographs of various astronauts in space capsules, space suits, and walking on the moon. Sometimes photographs are superimposed one on another, making it difficult to read. For example, one photograph shows the command module Columbia as photographed from the lunar module and an insert shows the 15-layer space suit and gear Neil Armstrong would wear for moonwalking. That’s a lot to process on one page. Still, the awesome images of footprints on the moon, raising the American flag, and earthrise from the moon, cannot help but raise shivers. The author concludes with a timeline of exploration, Web sites, recommended books, and picture credits. For NASA memorabilia collectors, end papers show the Apollo space badges for missions 11–17. Useful for replacing aging space titles. (Nonfiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2001
ISBN: 1-57091-408-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2001
With the goal of boosting interest in George Washington, in 2005 Mount Vernon commissioned three life-size reproductions of him at ages 19, 45 and 57. Enthusiastic prose and informative photographs convey in considerable detail the work on this project by a variety of experts, including sculptors, archaeologists, historians, dentists, painters, taxidermists and more. The process entailed extensive research, up-to-date technology such as laser scanners and age-old techniques of leatherwork and hand-sewing to form and clothe the lifelike figures now on display. Even one of his horses, Blueskin, was meticulously re-created. Chapters on the reconstruction alternate with biographical chapters about the corresponding years in Washington’s life, when he was a young surveyor and soldier, Revolutionary general presiding over early battles and Valley Forge and incoming president. Quotations from Washington and his contemporaries add a personal note, while reproductions of portraits, statues and artifacts supply visual interest. Color photographs show some of the steps in the reconstruction. The narrow focus makes this handsome volume likely to appeal to visitors to Mount Vernon or those with a special interest in Washington or in such reconstructions. Suggestions for further age-appropriate reading supplement an extensive bibliography. (timeline, source notes, websites, index) (Nonfiction. 11-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7613-5608-0
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2011
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