Despite its subject matter, on the dry side.
Wild weather–loving Heather Whirl experiences a superstorm.
On her eighth birthday, Heather’s great-grandmother gives her a special gift, an heirloom umbrella that will take her on weather adventures—the first involving a wide-ranging storm on the East Coast of the United States. Soon Heather; her best friend, Edward; her dog, Fog; and her lizard, Blizzard, are whirled away to a windy wave-whipped seashore. The animals can talk now, and Edward and Blizzard get caught in the backwash from a big wave but are pulled to safety. Hearing a call for help, the quartet enter a small beach house, where they find, and help, an elderly woman who has fallen. A reporter covering the storm shows up and interviews Heather, who expounds on superstorms and climate change. When night falls, Heather and her friends return home in time for her birthday party. Though there’s plenty of solid weather information here, the author does more telling than showing, and many facts feel awkwardly inserted. Adventure-related backmatter includes Heather’s Weather Journal entry on superstorms, two of Edward’s photos, Blizzard’s research-based explanation of climate change, and Fog’s suggestions for staying safe during superstorms. Heather has light skin and straight hair; Edward has darker skin and curly dark hair.
Despite its subject matter, on the dry side. (activities, Beaufort scale, jokes, weather websites) (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781662670312
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Kane Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Models attention to detail and deductive reasoning in a fun beach setting, complete with interesting facts.
Beachcombers and shell seekers, gather ’round and meet Shelby and Watts, Planetary Investigators.
When Fred the hermit crab can’t find a new, larger shell to move into, he seeks out the “brilliant brains” of Shelby and Watts. Shelby, a fox, is the detective in the duo, and Watts, a badger, loves facts, adding simple fun ones—about hermit crabs, tides, tide-pool dwellers, how shells are used, etc.—throughout the story. Watts also loves to catalog clues in his notebook. In fact, the first mystery that Shelby solves is that of Watts’ lost notebook. Young readers can watch Shelby investigate, solve, and explain her deductive process, all while learning to carefully examine all the details in each graphic panel. Once the missing shells are found, it’s “time for the hermit crab shuffle,” in which the members of a colony of hermit crabs all line up and trade up to larger homes. Final pages include “Earth-Saving Tips from Shelby & Watts,” such as taking pictures of shells instead of collecting them, eating seafood from sustainable sources, and cleaning up the beach. The seven chapters are of varying length, but with several one-panel pages and many pages with low word count, the book is shorter than it appears, which should be a confidence boost for young readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Models attention to detail and deductive reasoning in a fun beach setting, complete with interesting facts. (Graphic early reader/mystery. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-20531-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
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