A little call to action.
Common critters like fireflies are presented alongside more-obscure critters like tardigrades in this informational picture book. Illustrations of anthropomorphic animals energetically introduce each topical double-page spread along with eye-catching chunky black headings. The visual composition of each spread is consistent, a design choice that will help younger readers navigate the information but that may also lead to interest loss. Two callout circles anchored in the bottom left and top right corners offer a fun fact and an “actual size” comparison, respectively. Choices of common items like a crayon to describe the actual size of a millipede offer an opportunity for children and their grown-ups to gather the objects for further understanding. The bottom-left fun fact threatens to compete with the brief introduction of each animal. Several paragraphs of information on each recto are paired with a realistic graphic of each animal. The information about honeybees, krill, and reticulated glass frogs calls out climate change as a challenge, while least weasels and termites are connected to their larger ecosystems as helpers. The take-home message reminds children that they and their actions matter even if the world makes them feel small. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A climate-conscious celebration of some small, helpful creatures of the world. (glossary) (Nonfiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77147-431-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS
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A charged-up roundup of astro-facts.
Having previously explored everything awesome about both dinosaurs (2019) and sharks (2020), Lowery now heads out along a well-traveled route, taking readers from the Big Bang through a planet-by-planet tour of the solar system and then through a selection of space-exploration highlights. The survey isn’t unique, but Lowery does pour on the gosh-wow by filling each hand-lettered, poster-style spread with emphatic colors and graphics. He also goes for the awesome in his selection of facts—so that readers get nothing about Newton’s laws of motion, for instance, but will come away knowing that just 65 years separate the Wright brothers’ flight and the first moon landing. They’ll also learn that space is silent but smells like burned steak (according to astronaut Chris Hadfield), that thanks to microgravity no one snores on the International Space Station, and that Buzz Aldrin was the first man on the moon…to use the bathroom. And, along with a set of forgettable space jokes (OK, one: “Why did the carnivore eat the shooting star?” “Because it was meteor”), the backmatter features drawing instructions for budding space artists and a short but choice reading list. Nods to Katherine Johnson and NASA’s other African American “computers” as well as astronomer Vera Rubin give women a solid presence in the otherwise male and largely White cast of humans. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A quick flight but a blast from first to last. (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-338-35974-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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