bookshelf

NATURE AT NIGHT

Name: NATURE AT NIGHT
Author: Lisa Regan
ISBN: 978-0-2281-0255-7

by Lisa Regan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 2020

Both casual browsers and budding zoologists will light up.

bookshelf

A gallery of luminous natural beauties (not necessarily nocturnal), from puffins to polar lights.

Leading off with a lenticular 3-D cover image of a hawksbill sea turtle glimmering red and green, this (stock) photo gallery spans land, sea, and sky to present 23 lambent wonders—all animals except for the foxfire mushroom and the northern and southern auroras—enhanced by glow-in-the-dark highlights. Even without that gimmick the figures seem luminous against the deep, black backgrounds. Nor is the glow always external; chameleons shine from their very bones; fimbriated moray eels gleam in part from internal organs; and the mushrooms, an orange octopus, and several others in the lineup at least look brightly lit from within. Aside from occasional bobbles, such as a claim that glowworms luminesce as larvae opposite a photo of flashing adults and contradictory observations that polka-dot tree frogs shine either by natural or only in ultraviolet light, Regan’s lucid, specific remarks about how each organism makes and uses its lights are spot-on. Anita Sitarski’s Cold Light (2007) offers less-dazzling photography but makes a natural follow-up since it illuminates a wider range of examples (including light-producing rocks and minerals) in greater detail.

Both casual browsers and budding zoologists will light up. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-2281-0255-7

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Firefly

Review Posted Online: June 15, 2020

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2020

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

bookshelf

THE KNOW-NONSENSE GUIDE TO MEASUREMENTS

AN AWESOMELY FUN GUIDE TO HOW THINGS ARE MEASURED!

From the Know Nonsense series

by Heidi Fiedler ; illustrated by Brendan Kearney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2017

Unmeasured nonsense.

bookshelf

Introductions to select common units of length, mass/weight, and intensity.

Clean page design and a tidily diverse cast of cartoon measurers and observers illustrating each example dress up but can’t disguise a narrative that is marred with errors, arbitrary entries, and oversimplifications. The misinformation begins with a claim that intergalactic—and, a few pages later, interstellar—distances are measured in astronomical units. It then goes on to define “month” as “the amount of time it takes the Moon to orbit the Earth, or about 30 days,” aver that “fortnight” is being used more and more by “Yanks,” and list the indeterminate “eon” as a unit of measure just like “year” and “millennium.” Fiedler explains the more or less self-evident term “light-year” but not “parsec” (in an entry that does not take the time to clear up the confusion about AUs) and correctly but uselessly suggests that doughnuts as well as molecules can be numbered in “moles.” She also neglects to mention that the boiling point of water varies with altitude or that decibels and Richter scale numbers are logarithmic. A stereotypically dressed Mexican sampling hot peppers for the Scoville scale and a penguin posing next to an igloo at the South Pole sour Kearney’s generally comical art.

Unmeasured nonsense. (abbreviated table of conversions) (Nonfiction. 7-9)

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-63322-297-7

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Walter Foster Jr.

Review Posted Online: June 18, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

bookshelf

MY JOURNEY TO THE STARS

by Scott Kelly ; illustrated by André Ceolin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 2017

The pictures are a patchwork, but the authorial voice is distinct and the story has its unique aspects.

bookshelf

An astronaut’s story, from early adventures with his twin brother (who also became an astronaut) to record-breaking feats in space.

Though in most respects typical of astronaut profiles for younger readers, this one features unusually personal notes—a nod to his “girlfriend,” Amiko, and early childhood memories of hiding in the bedroom with his brother when their parents fought—and also vivid writing. Kelly describes re-entry as “like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel—but while you’re on fire!” In a personable voice he highlights major youthful experiences, then goes on to give quicker accounts of his training and career, which began with a life-changing reading of Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff (1979) and culminated in four missions capped by a year spent in orbit to track long-term physical changes, with his brother back on Earth serving as control. (Kelly will doubtless cover all of this in greater detail in his memoir for adult readers, scheduled for publication at the same time.) In an ill-judged attempt to fill in gaps, the illustrations, most of which are a mix of family snapshots and official NASA photos, alternate with or are superimposed on very simply drawn cartoon portraits or frames. The Kelly family is white; some astronauts and other figures in both the photos and in Ceolin’s scenes are dark-skinned.

The pictures are a patchwork, but the authorial voice is distinct and the story has its unique aspects. (Picture book/autobiography. 7-9)