A bit behind the times but nevertheless a sturdy addition to a venerable series, filling in a ubiquitous device’s historical...
A basic explanation for younger children who wonder how telephones work and how they were invented.
Zoehfeld begins by describing how sound waves work (tucking in instructions for making a string telephone), then goes on to the invention of telegraphs and Morse code, followed by close looks at Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone and Thomas Edison’s improvements to it. She then traces the development of wireless networks and cellphones and ends by inviting readers to think about what they wish future phones might be able to do. Suggestions for experiments to perform with the string phones readers (of course) made earlier on can be found in the backmatter along with a glossary and a short timeline of phone history. Along with labeled views of early devices and their insides, Nowowiejska adds both cartoon portraits of early inventors and a racially diverse cast of modern children (including one in a wheelchair and several with glasses). Oddly, although a child is pictured on a smartphone in an opening sequence, the author ends her discourse before the development of today’s telephony, and the timeline cuts off with the first portable phones in 1973.
A bit behind the times but nevertheless a sturdy addition to a venerable series, filling in a ubiquitous device’s historical and technological background. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 21, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-238668-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
The archetype’s patterns are just visible enough to boost this light payload of silliness and STEM-ware into orbit.
Ever ready to extend her culinary experience, the old lady of song turns to astrophagy.
Colandro’s 17th (and counting) riff on the classic cumulative rhyme sends the space-suited elder into space to swallow the moon (“It happened at noon at noon”). She then goes on in no obviously logical fashion to chow down on a star, a planet, a comet, a meteoroid, a rocket (“It was next on the docket”), and a satellite—before settling at last, in Lee’s frenetically stippled climactic scene, amid a diverse group of awestruck children beneath a gloriously crowded planetarium “sky.” In between verses two young and generally earthbound observers, one a child of color and the other white, step in to supply basic astro-facts (“That meteoroid made a loud sound!” observes one; the other explains, “It’s a meteorite when it hits the ground”) that are extended, at least a little, in a set of closing notes. And a search-and-find game at the end invites emergent stargazers to go back in search of various objects hidden in the cartoon starscapes. The titular old astronaut will be instantly recognizable to fans of the series as the bespectacled, white-bunned, lantern-jawed white protagonist they’ve come to know.
The archetype’s patterns are just visible enough to boost this light payload of silliness and STEM-ware into orbit. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-32507-2
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
No, whining won’t shorten the journey…but it can make it more entertaining.
Slow and steady may win the race—but it’s not this butterfly’s style.
Having achieved metamorphosis despite many fits and starts in The VERY Impatient Caterpillar (2019), Burach’s popeyed, loudly colored flutterer faces a whole new challenge: tailing the rest of the migrating butterfly flock across a long stretch of ocean. “200 MILES? How am I supposed to travel that far?” Diving down the blowhole of a passing whale to hitch a ride in its stomach (anatomical detail is not a strong point here) turns out to be a nonstarter…but the whale does prove to be a supportive cheerleader. It horks the anguished insect up, admitting that even whales can be anxious sometimes and urging it to “KEEP TRYING” and “Believe you can.” Finally the insect boldly proclaims, “I got this!” And 200 miles of storms and predators later, it does indeed got this, landing amid bright flowers to a warm welcome from its fluttery compatriots. “You found your way!” Alas, the triumph quickly turns to fresh panic with the news that it’s almost time to go dormant for the winter. “Dorma-WHAT-now?” Stay still all winter? Uh-oh. Young members of the “Are we there yet?” chorus will wince in sympathy. The insect’s exaggerated expressions and frantic expostulations will elicit plenty of giggles, and sly pictorial details will keep a broad range of readers happy during rereads.
No, whining won’t shorten the journey…but it can make it more entertaining. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-61500-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
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