Go adventuring with a better guide.
Find something to do in every state in the U.S.A.!
This guide highlights a location of interest within each of the states, therefore excluding Washington, D.C., and the territories. Trivia about each location is scattered across crisply rendered landscapes that background each state’s double-page spread while diminutive, diverse characters populate the scenes. Befitting the title, one “adventure” is presented per state, such as shrimping in Louisiana’s bayous, snowshoeing in Connecticut, or celebrating the Fourth of July in Boston. While some are stereotypical gimmes (surfing in California), others have the virtue of novelty, at least for this audience, such as viewing the sandhill crane migration in Nebraska. Within this thematic unity, some details go astray, and readers may find themselves searching in vain for animals mentioned. The trivia is plentiful but may be misleading, vague, or incorrect. Information about the Native American peoples of the area is often included, but its brevity—especially regarding sacred locations—means readers are floundering without sufficient context. The same is true for many of the facts that relate directly to expansion and colonialism, such as the unexplained near extinction of bison. Describing the genealogical oral history of South Carolina’s Gullah community as “spin[ning] tales” is equally brusque and offensive. The book tries to do a lot, but it is more style than substance, which may leave readers bored, confused, slightly annoyed—or all three. (This book was reviewed digitally with 12.2-by-20.2-inch double-page spreads viewed at 80% of actual size.)
Go adventuring with a better guide. (tips on local adventuring, index) (Nonfiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7112-5445-9
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Salutary reading for armchair berserkers and shield maidens.
A handy guide for young readers thinking that life on a longship in pursuit of plunder might be for them.
Prospective Vikings will want to know something of the history and rewards of their calling, and so in this much simplified and newly illustrated version of John Haywood’s Viking, a 2011 title in the Unofficial Manual series, Amson-Bradshaw offers useful features aplenty. These range from thumbnail portraits of Olaf Tryggvason and other renowned Viking leaders to travel articles such as “5 Epic Places To Plunder Before You Die (Violently).” Along the way she also deals out short but rousing disquisitions on battle tactics and berserkers, weapons and gear, seagoing navigation, Viking “healthcare,” and other relevant topics. Akiyama illustrates it all in occasionally gory cartoon drawings with green and gray highlights featuring three modern children—timorous Angus, bloodthirsty Kate (both white), and Eddie, dark skinned and gung-ho—who travel back in time and are squired about by mighty warrior Bjorn and scowling shield maiden Hervor. The same modern trio tries out the life of legionaries in So You Want To Be a Roman Soldier? (2019), which is also recast for younger audiences from an earlier, longer work (Legionary, by Philip Matyszak, 2009) and likewise well stocked with historical people (only slightly more diverse than in …Viking), places, and facts. Both make a career in, say, librarianship, look far more enticing.
Salutary reading for armchair berserkers and shield maidens. (map, index, glossary) (Nonfiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-500-65184-1
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Challenges galore for young eco-crusaders, presented in an inventive format.
A gallery of civilization-threatening “modern monsters,” from Smogosaurus and the forest-chewing Logre to Acid Rain Spirits and Nuclear Jinns.
These menaces are modeled on or at least inspired by creatures from pop culture or world folklore—Trash Kong, for instance, is joined by the Noisybird, loosely related to the similarly nine-headed Jiu Tou Niao of Chinese tradition, and the E-Waste Golem. Each one steps up in turn to boast of its destructive habits and potential and comes with an inset “Monster Card” featuring arrays of icons (interpreted on a key that can be folded out for ready reference) indicating activities that will promote, or hinder, further damage to our planet. The monsters are all created or (more commonly) abetted by human agency, and though many acknowledge anxiously that efforts are being made to check their depredations, Rohde urgently makes the case at beginning and end that there is still plenty of work to be done. The monsters themselves, which are largely rendered as diaphanous or semi-abstract shapes in various transparent hues with stylized, geometric faces, come across as more pretty than dangerous looking, and the fold-out world “Monster Map” at the end conveys a misleading impression that they are mostly localized threats rather than ubiquitous ones. Still, even younger readers will understand that each poses a real danger.
Challenges galore for young eco-crusaders, presented in an inventive format. (glossary, source list, index) (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: April 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-912920-22-8
Page Count: 60
Publisher: What on Earth!
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
