An unusual combination of women’s history and science that shows not all questions can be answered.
The scientific passions of a beloved children’s-book creator.
Beatrix Potter is revered for her classic children’s tales, but many will be unaware of her love of science. Soft, smudged pictures in Potter’s palette accompany informative prose infused with a childlike wonder at the natural world, and together they depict young Beatrix’s fascination with the landscape of Scotland, various animals, and, later, the study of mushrooms. Unsupported by her family, largely self-educated, and armed with microscope, paper, and pencil, Potter works with Scottish naturalist Charles McIntosh for years, exchanging samples and artwork until she is among the first to sprout spores in Britain. Initially rejected due to sexism, Beatrix struggles to make her findings known through a male colleague, is told that more work is required, and then mysteriously ceases her work. “What makes her stop? Does she suspect she will never be taken seriously as a scientist? Does she begin to doubt herself? Like pages ripped from a book, history holds those secrets,” the text wonders. While Peter Rabbit and company might never have come into being had Potter not switched her focus, readers and listeners will see how the ambitions of a budding woman scientist were effectively quashed, perhaps leading them to object to the unfairness of her treatment and to wonder what other discoveries go unmentioned due to inequality. All characters are White.
An unusual combination of women’s history and science that shows not all questions can be answered. (biographical note, timeline, acknowledgments, bibliography, source notes, further reading) (Picture book/biography. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8075-5175-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
Heartfelt reflections on the importance of kinship with nature.
An Indigenous gardener matures—and vows to protect the environment.
The young narrator spends summer days with loving great-grandparents who impart important lessons: “These trees are our ancestors” and “We thank them with a song, a blessing, and a few drops of water.” From mountains to rivers, every part of nature is alive, and the child learns to listen to the plants, who offer food, promise to quench the little one’s thirst, and provide smoke to “lift your prayers to heaven.” As the youngster grows, so does the surrounding cityscape, silencing the animals and plants. The now-adult protagonist wanders, alone and lost—before coming across a tiny plant sprouting from the gray concrete. Inspired, the narrator decides, “From one, I would grow many.” Trees and flowers fill the pages. Later scenes show the protagonist with a young son, who also learns to listen to the wisdom of the plants. Hummingbird—a descendant from the Cahuilla nation of Southern California’s Inland Empire and the Apache nation of New Mexico—and Wasson matter-of-factly emphasize the importance of respect for the environment. Goodnight’s (Chickasaw Nation) realistic art complements this tender story. Soft, natural colors add warmth, while leaves and acorns adorn the endpapers, underscoring the themes of growth, compassion, and strength. In the backmatter, the authors note that plants, like animals, can go extinct; they leave readers with suggestions for growing native plants in their own homes and backyards.
Heartfelt reflections on the importance of kinship with nature. (resources) (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: April 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780063221284
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
Science at its best: informative and gross.
Why not? Because “IT’S FULL OF GERMS.”
Of course, Ben-Barak rightly notes, so is everything else—from your socks to the top of Mount Everest. Just to demonstrate, he invites readers to undertake an exploratory adventure (only partly imaginary): First touch a certain seemingly blank spot on the page to pick up a microbe named Min, then in turn touch teeth, shirt, and navel to pick up Rae, Dennis, and Jake. In the process, readers watch crews of other microbes digging cavities (“Hey kid, brush your teeth less”), spreading “lovely filth,” and chowing down on huge rafts of dead skin. For the illustrations, Frost places dialogue balloons and small googly-eyed cartoon blobs of diverse shape and color onto Rundgren’s photographs, taken using a scanning electron microscope, of the fantastically rugged surfaces of seemingly smooth paper, a tooth, textile fibers, and the jumbled crevasses in a belly button. The tour concludes with more formal introductions and profiles for Min and the others: E. coli, Streptococcus, Aspergillus niger, and Corynebacteria. “Where will you take Min tomorrow?” the author asks teasingly. Maybe the nearest bar of soap.
Science at its best: informative and gross. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: June 5, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-17536-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Roaring Brook
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
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