Winters follows up her debut poetry book (Did You See What I Saw?, 1996) with another collection of poems about school.
The 35 poems run the gamut from the first day of school to the first day of summer and are written from all sorts of perspectives, including those of a school, a bus, the new kid, and an earthworm. (That last poem may have readers scratching their heads as to how it fits, but the illustration of earthworms tunneling below a farmer on a tractor is quite fabulous.) Kids will find lots that is familiar here: a fire drill, the awkward thrill of spotting a teacher outside of school, a friend moving away, permission slips, academic subjects, a snow day, the 100th day of school, tests, and lice, among others (though absent are any poems about school lunches). The forms of the poems also vary. Some are free verse; others rhyme, though the rhymes and rhythm are occasionally weak (“guess” with “tests”). Barton’s digital illustrations have a watercolor look, with soft edges and colors. She focuses largely on the people, her vignettes filled with diverse students and teachers engaged with each other.
Though the poems of Bruce Lansky and Jack Prelutsky remain the gold standard in terms of school poems, these do present some different topics and viewpoints. (Picture book/poetry. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-53898-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
Categories: CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S
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A comedic, nonfiction picture book explores the history of human hygiene and toilet paper.
Starting at the beginning of human history (200,000 years ago, according to Gholz’s timeline), this creative story examines potty tools. Early substitutes for toilet paper and hand towels included seashells, grass, moss, and leaves. The author fast-forwards to ancient Mesopotamia’s ceramic and brick nonflushing toilets and makes a stop at ancient Rome’s public toilets—recommended “if you don’t mind pottying in public and sharing a tersorium (a bum brush) with others.” She then proceeds to the invention of paper in China in 79 C.E. But it takes many years before flushing toilets and commercial toilet paper hit the market, and Gholz and illustrator Teimoy indulge in silliness every step of the way. In endnotes, the author explains that sources differ regarding many facts about toilet origins, but the inventors and time periods in the book are the most commonly accepted. For sheer potty humor, Gholz has hit gold, and the use of simple language and sentence structures allows emergent and newly independent readers to experience the comedy confidently. Teimoy’s diverse cartoon illustrations capture the humor of early potty techniques (for example, a bidet user in 1700s France loses her balance while getting a “spritz”). For some readers, the specifics of how toilet paper was invented and marketed may come as a revelation. In addition, this history of how humans have gone to the bathroom delivers plenty of gross, gleeful details that science lovers will enjoy.
A humorous and clever tale about toilet tools.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 9780762475551
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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