Science made clear—and fun.
“Science is the best!”
When Libby’s teacher, Mr. Darwin, announces that a new student named Fatima will be joining their class, Libby suggests throwing her a welcome party. Libby’s friends volunteer to make a banner and bring decorations, while Libby will be responsible for the treats. The next day, Libby totes a bag filled with sundae toppings and a carton of ice cream. Fatima arrives and sits beside Libby, and they soon bond over their shared love of science. Mr. Darwin explains the term matter and its three states and offers familiar examples, with lots of eager input from the students. Everyone seems to grasp the concept. Recess begins, and they prepare for the party. But Libby realizes that she forgot to put the ice cream in the freezer, and it’s changed from a solid to a liquid. Luckily, Mr. Darwin supplies hot cocoa, and the children apply their knowledge. The steam coming from the cocoa is a gas, the marshmallows they add to their mugs are solid, and the cocoa is liquid. The welcome party has been a smashing success. The science is clearly explained, and the Popsicle-bright illustrations focus on the big-eyed children, who are all fully engaged and plainly adore all things STEM. Mr. Darwin is light-skinned, Libby presents Black, Fatima is brown-skinned, and the class is diverse.
Science made clear—and fun. (recipes for ice pops and orange soda, quiz, glossary) (Easy reader. 5-8)Pub Date: April 30, 2024
ISBN: 9780063116634
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An unusual offering for the young geology nerd.
This British import is an imaginatively constructed sequence of images that show a white boy examining a city pavement, clearly in London, and the sights he would see if he were able to travel down to the Earth’s core and then back again to the surface.
The geologic layers are depicted in 10 vertical spreads that require a 90-degree turn to be read and include endpapers, which open out, concertina fashion, to show the interior of the Earth to its core. Beneath the urban setting are drains, pipes, and artifacts of urban infrastructure. Below that, archaeological relics are revealed. An Underground train speeds by, and below it, a stalactite-encrusted cave yawns. Deep below the Earth’s crust, magma, the Earth’s mantle, and the inner core are shown. Turn the page to start going up again, back through the mantle to the crust, where precious minerals are revealed, then fossils, tree roots, and animal burrows, ending with the same boy in the English countryside. The painted, stenciled, and collaged illustrations are full-bleed, and the tones graduate pleasantly from light colors at the surface of the Earth to rich pinks, yellows, and oranges as readers near the Earth’s core. The text is informative, if lacking in poetry, including such nuggets as “earthworms are expert recyclers, eating dead plants in the soil.”
An unusual offering for the young geology nerd. (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68297-136-9
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Words & Pictures
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of...
An international story tackles a serious global issue with Reynolds’ characteristic visual whimsy.
Gie Gie—aka Princess Gie Gie—lives with her parents in Burkina Faso. In her kingdom under “the African sky, so wild and so close,” she can tame wild dogs with her song and make grass sway, but despite grand attempts, she can neither bring the water closer to home nor make it clean. French words such as “maintenant!” (now!) and “maman” (mother) and local color like the karite tree and shea nuts place the story in a French-speaking African country. Every morning, Gie Gie and her mother perch rings of cloth and large clay pots on their heads and walk miles to the nearest well to fetch murky, brown water. The story is inspired by model Georgie Badiel, who founded the Georgie Badiel Foundation to make clean water accessible to West Africans. The details in Reynolds’ expressive illustrations highlight the beauty of the West African landscape and of Princess Gie Gie, with her cornrowed and beaded hair, but will also help readers understand that everyone needs clean water—from the children of Burkina Faso to the children of Flint, Michigan.
Though told by two outsiders to the culture, this timely and well-crafted story will educate readers on the preciousness of potable water. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-17258-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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