An informative introduction to a career that combines treasure hunting, scientific experimentation, and ocean exploration.
Marine geologist Zaleski introduces young readers to the world of maritime archaeology in her debut memoir.
“Maritime archeology is a specialized branch of archeology,” the author states early on, “which studies the physical remains of human interaction with a water body.” Put simply, the crew of the research vessel Hercules, in this book, hunts for sunken treasure. Zaleski chronicles her experience searching the coast of Cadiz, Spain, for the Santisima Trinidad, a Spanish flagship that was lost after the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Zaleski, acting as survey manager to a crew of archaeologists, sailors, divers, engineers, and interns, was responsible for gathering and interpreting survey data using multibeam sonar, a technology that’s rarely used for this purpose—and thus, a kind of exploration in its own right. Throughout, the author includes detailed accounts of the tech she used, the jobs of various crew members, the difficulties of mapping the ocean floor and working around volatile weather, as well as pleasant, humanizing stories of time spent onshore in Spain and the camaraderie of her crew. Zaleski approaches her subject with a deep love of science and a genuine desire to share her work with children, and the prose is approachable and easy to read throughout. On the whole, though, the book may be a bit dry and short for some readers, and more details about the decks of the Hercules and its contents, the crew’s other missions, and the ways in which submerged targets are transformed by the ocean would have been welcome. That said, curious children interested in scientific exploration will find the author’s encouraging voice and zeal for discovery to be relatable.
An informative introduction to a career that combines treasure hunting, scientific experimentation, and ocean exploration.Pub Date: May 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64378-902-6
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Austin Macauley
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts.
From a Caldecott and Sibert honoree, an invitation to take a mind-expanding journey from the surface of our planet to the furthest reaches of the observable cosmos.
Though Chin’s assumption that we are even capable of understanding the scope of the universe is quixotic at best, he does effectively lead viewers on a journey that captures a sense of its scale. Following the model of Kees Boeke’s classic Cosmic View: The Universe in Forty Jumps (1957), he starts with four 8-year-old sky watchers of average height (and different racial presentations). They peer into a telescope and then are comically startled by the sudden arrival of an ostrich that is twice as tall…and then a giraffe that is over twice as tall as that…and going onward and upward, with ellipses at each page turn connecting the stages, past our atmosphere and solar system to the cosmic web of galactic superclusters. As he goes, precisely drawn earthly figures and features in the expansive illustrations give way to ever smaller celestial bodies and finally to glimmering swirls of distant lights against gulfs of deep black before ultimately returning to his starting place. A closing recap adds smaller images and additional details. Accompanying the spare narrative, valuable side notes supply specific lengths or distances and define their units of measure, accurately explain astronomical phenomena, and close with the provocative observation that “the observable universe is centered on us, but we are not in the center of the entire universe.”
A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts. (afterword, websites, further reading) (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4623-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
Though usually cast as the trickster, Coyote is more victim than victimizer, making this a nice complement to other Coyote...
Two republished tales by a Greco-Cherokee author feature both folkloric and modern elements as well as new illustrations.
One of the two has never been offered south of the (Canadian) border. In “Coyote Sings to the Moon,” the doo-wop hymn sung nightly by Old Woman and all the animals except tone-deaf Coyote isn’t enough to keep Moon from hiding out at the bottom of the lake—until she is finally driven forth by Coyote’s awful wailing. She has been trying to return to the lake ever since, but that piercing howl keeps her in the sky. In “Coyote’s New Suit” he is schooled in trickery by Raven, who convinces him to steal the pelts of all the other animals while they’re bathing, sends the bare animals to take clothes from the humans’ clothesline, and then sets the stage for a ruckus by suggesting that Coyote could make space in his overcrowded closet by having a yard sale. No violence ensues, but from then to now humans and animals have not spoken to one another. In Eggenschwiler’s monochrome scenes Coyote and the rest stand on hind legs and (when stripped bare) sport human limbs. Old Woman might be Native American; the only other completely human figure is a pale-skinned girl.
Though usually cast as the trickster, Coyote is more victim than victimizer, making this a nice complement to other Coyote tales. (Fiction. 9-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-55498-833-4
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
