A fun, whimsically illustrated book about space exploration that’s definitely worth adding to classroom and school libraries.
A young astronaut and her toy friends go on a dream-time adventure in this children’s tale by debut author Burney with illustrations by De La Roche and Williams Sticka.
Rikki is a pale-skinned girl with pigtails who wears pink and carries a toy rocket ship—a wonderful story setup that shows young readers that there’s no contradiction between liking things that are typically girl-assigned and liking science. The youngster, like most good child-scientists, is always asking questions about why the world is the way it is. At night, Rikki and her mother, who’s darker-skinned with curly hair, pretend to fly her rocket to outer space. Mommy brings out Rikki’s toys, the Rocket Twins, to liven up the game. When it’s time for sleep, the girl and the twins travel through the solar system, voyaging from the sun all the way to dwarf planets Pluto and Eris. Each spread has a similar format: the twins are shown doing something silly (such as baking pizza on the moon, roller-skating on Saturn’s bumpy rings, or flying a kite on freezing, windy Neptune), while the text offers general information about the planet, as well as a sidebar with a question from Rikki. There are also text boxes with facts from the Rocket Twins and great illustrations that highlight where each planet is in the planetary order. Parents who miss Pluto being included in books on the solar system will rejoice to see that its dwarf planet categorization doesn’t keep it out of this book. There are occasional moments of rhyme (“Every time she looks up at the sky, her mind is filled with questions of why?”) that stand out amid the largely non-rhyming text. Overall, budding astronomers and astronauts will find the vocabulary to be approachable, and the book’s presentation of a mixed-race family is overwhelmingly positive.
A fun, whimsically illustrated book about space exploration that’s definitely worth adding to classroom and school libraries.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9982317-0-9
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Change3 Enterprises
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The seemingly ageless Seeger brings back his renowned giant for another go in a tuneful tale that, like the art, is a bit sketchy, but chockful of worthy messages. Faced with yearly floods and droughts since they’ve cut down all their trees, the townsfolk decide to build a dam—but the project is stymied by a boulder that is too huge to move. Call on Abiyoyo, suggests the granddaughter of the man with the magic wand, then just “Zoop Zoop” him away again. But the rock that Abiyoyo obligingly flings aside smashes the wand. How to avoid Abiyoyo’s destruction now? Sing the monster to sleep, then make it a peaceful, tree-planting member of the community, of course. Seeger sums it up in a postscript: “every community must learn to manage its giants.” Hays, who illustrated the original (1986), creates colorful, if unfinished-looking, scenes featuring a notably multicultural human cast and a towering Cubist fantasy of a giant. The song, based on a Xhosa lullaby, still has that hard-to-resist sing-along potential, and the themes of waging peace, collective action, and the benefits of sound ecological practices are presented in ways that children will both appreciate and enjoy. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-689-83271-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001
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