A slightly different take on a global challenge.
Fifteen “hotspots” demonstrate the potential effects of rising sea levels around the world.
While the author of this timely warning makes clear that human-caused climate changes are responsible for rising sea levels, the focus is on specific places grappling with it. Thomas describes the current status of each (location, population, area size, feet above sea level, and something special about the place), the number of people likely to be affected by sea-level rise by 2100, and the area’s game plan: protection, adaptation, and/or population relocation. The areas described lie on low-lying islands, coasts, and deltas around the world from Greenland to Antarctica. In two opening chapters, Thomas introduces the issue with a short explanation, charts, photographs, and graphic images as well as a map. Each example is presented in two to four pages with lively design, accessible text, and obviously doctored photographs showing drowning buildings and statues. There are three examples from the U.S. and two from eastern Canada. Other hot spots include Bangladesh, Mumbai, and the Nile delta. A final section offers 10 solid suggestions for middle-grade readers, from the obvious “speak up!” and “reduce, reuse, recycle” to the less-often-mentioned “eat less meat” and “be a backyard scientist.”
A slightly different take on a global challenge. (glossary, resources, carbon and water cycles, index) (Nonfiction. 9-14)Pub Date: March 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-2281-0022-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Firefly
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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
A splendid volume for young adventurers.
Based on her work with middle-school students, Long offers lessons on how to stay healthy and out of trouble while awaiting rescue, the same lessons taught to adults in her survival classes.
Her matter-of-fact, no-nonsense tone will play well with young readers, and the clear writing style is appropriate to the content. The engaging guide covers everything from building shelters to avoiding pigs and javelinas. With subjects like kissing bugs, scorpions, snow blindness and “How going to the bathroom can attract bears and mountain lions,” the volume invites browsing as much as studying. The information offered is sometimes obvious: “If you find yourself facing an alligator, get away from it”; sometime humorous: Raccoons will “fight with your dog, steal all your food, then climb up a tree and call you bad names in raccoon language”; and sometimes not comforting: “When alligators attack on land, they usually make one grab at you; if they miss, you are usually safe.” But when survival is at stake, the more information the better, especially when leavened with some wit. An excellent bibliography will lead young readers to a host of fascinating websites, and 150 clipart-style line drawings complement the text.
A splendid volume for young adventurers. (index not seen) (Nonfiction. 9-14)Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-56976-708-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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