Eye-filling fare for the next generation of space travelers.
A huge double-gatefold view of the International Space Station highlights this gallery of spacegoing craft past, present, and future.
This busy survey is printed on sturdy stock and fills up four fold-out panoramas plus standard spreads between. In it, dozens of probes, satellites, launch vehicles, crewed and uncrewed vessels, space telescopes, and habitats in space and on the Martian surface float in uncrowded arrays against starry backdrops. The digitally painted images are simplified but feature a sufficient number of significant details and design elements to enable identification, and adjacent labels provide the name of each craft, its functions, and often its country of origin too. An admixture of less-common examples, such as the Soviet Union’s formerly top-secret Ahmaz space station and SpaceX’s robotic Dragon, enhance the usual array of Sputnik-to–space shuttle suspects. Furthermore, along with step-by-step schematic views of multistage rocket takeoffs and space station docking maneuvers, there are views of (cartoon-style) astronauts at work to provide a sense of scale. A quick précis of the space race supplies a bit of historical background, and the final spread offers glimpses of future craft that are currently on the design board as well as more speculative notions that are still “twinkles in the eyes of scientists.”
Eye-filling fare for the next generation of space travelers. (Nonfiction. 7-10)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4095-8217-5
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Usborne
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2015
Familiar school concerns, nicely resolved, make this another excellent selection for early chapter-book readers. (Fiction....
Third-grader Wilson Williams knows he'll never learn fractions: “Multiplication was hard enough,” he tells his pet hamster, Pip.
Worse, his parents have arranged for a math tutor. Just the idea of a tutor is embarrassing, but sympathetic Mrs. Tucker uses his love for hamsters to help him understand the math, and soon he’s quite clear about the difference between the Nice Numerator and the Dumb Denominator. At the same time, Pip becomes the basis for a successful science-fair project. Not only does Wilson have some academic success, he makes his little brother happy. Though only in kindergarten, Kipper has a science-fair project too. In the process of Kipper’s investigations, one of his favorite stuffed animals disappears. Big brother Wilson comes to the rescue. Most satisfying of all, he discovers that others—even his very best friend—are tutored, too. The short chapters have believable dialogue and plenty of reader appeal. In one, Wilson tries to teach his hamster to shake hands; in another, his friend Josh experiments with blowing up a pickle. Karas' scratchy grayscale drawings, one to a chapter, support the story. This sequel to 7 x 9 = Trouble (2002) follows logically but also stands on its own.
Familiar school concerns, nicely resolved, make this another excellent selection for early chapter-book readers. (Fiction. 7-10)Pub Date: June 21, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-36716-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The story feels a bit contrived, but Ada will be a welcome addition to the small circle of science-loving girls in the...
Using science and technology, third-grader Ada Lace kicks off her new series by solving a mystery even with her leg in a cast.
Temporarily housebound after a badly executed bungee jump, Ada uses binoculars to document the ecosystem of her new neighborhood in San Francisco. She records her observations in a field journal, a project that intrigues new friend Nina, who lives nearby. When they see that Ms. Reed’s dog, Marguerite, is missing, they leap to the conclusion that it has been stolen. Nina does the legwork and Ada provides the technology for their search for the dognapper. Story-crafting takes a back seat to scene-setting in this series kickoff that introduces the major players. As part of the series formula, science topics and gadgetry are integrated into the stories and further explained in a “Behind the Science” afterword. This installment incorporates drones, a wireless camera, gecko gloves, and the Turing test as well as the concept of an ecosystem. There are no ethnic indicators in the text, but the illustrations reveal that Ada, her family, and bratty neighbor Milton are white; Nina appears to be Southeast Asian; and Mr. Peebles, an inventor who lives nearby, is black.
The story feels a bit contrived, but Ada will be a welcome addition to the small circle of science-loving girls in the chapter-book world. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8599-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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