Clever, visually appealing, and thought provoking.
Bulion and Meganck return for a volume combining scientific inquiry and poetry, here investigating pairs of species that cooperate.
Characters Honey Bee and Daisy offer playful instruction on reading aloud the verse, written in two voices and color-coded. (An appended explanation supplies a further how-to.) Fifteen poems exploring the relationships between various pairs of creatures are accompanied by clearly illustrated double-page spreads and prose explaining the animals’ mutually beneficial activities. Challenging concepts like mutualism and symbiosis are deftly probed at the outset and in the backmatter. The animal interplay is fascinating, couched in imaginatively crafted, often slyly funny verse. In Borneo’s cloud forests, scarce in insects and fruits, the mountain treeshrew licks nutritious nectar from the pitcher plant, positioning its bottom within the plant’s bowl-shaped opening, which inevitably functions like a toilet of sorts. “Yoo-hoo, mountain treeshrew… / My pitcher’s open lid / oozes nectar for you. / So… / while you sit on the rim / of my open-air loo, / relax…take your time… / and feel free to poo.” The ocean sunfish surfaces on its side, offering a platter of parasites to seabirds like the Laysan albatross. Bulion is careful to point out that not all relationships are balanced: Some “cleaner” species also draw blood and other bodily fluids from their hosts. Examinations of humans’ gut biome and the earth itself conclude the project.
Clever, visually appealing, and thought provoking. (glossary, list of species mentioned, more about poems for two readers, notes about poetic forms, nature’s wild relationships, bibliography) (Informational poetry. 7-10)Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9781682637807
Page Count: 56
Publisher: Margaret Quinlin Books/Peachtree
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe.
An introduction to gravity.
The book opens with the most iconic demonstration of gravity, an apple falling. Throughout, Herz tackles both huge concepts—how gravity compresses atoms to form stars and how black holes pull all kinds of matter toward them—and more concrete ones: how gravity allows you to jump up and then come back down to the ground. Gravity narrates in spare yet lyrical verse, explaining how it creates planets and compresses atoms and comparing itself to a hug. “My embrace is tight enough that you don’t float like a balloon, but loose enough that you can run and leap and play.” Gravity personifies itself at times: “I am stubborn—the bigger things are, the harder I pull.” Beautiful illustrations depict swirling planets and black holes alongside racially diverse children playing, running, and jumping, all thanks to gravity. Thorough backmatter discusses how Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity and explains Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. While at times Herz’s explanations may be a bit too technical for some readers, burgeoning scientists will be drawn in.
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe. (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: April 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668936849
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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