A pivotal moment in a child’s life, handled with grace and sensitivity rather than conflict or ineffective lecturing.
Timely intervention keeps a young science enthusiast’s career ambitions on the rails in this fourth outing for Mr. Tiffin’s class.
A born naturalist (“She even collected owl pellets. And she took them apart”), Kimmy eagerly shares her knowledge about dinosaurs and fossils on a trip to the museum—until she’s silenced by classmate Jake’s disparaging remark that “girls aren’t scientists.” No sooner does her perspicacious teacher spot her sudden change, though, than he leads her to a specimen of Gasparinisauria, a dinosaur named, she reads, in honor of paleontologist Zulma Nélida Brandoni de Gasparini. Even Jake admits that that is “awesome,” and for the rest of the visit Kimmy becomes a positive fount of information about raptor toes, Stegosaurus brains, and other dinosaur lore. “When I grow up,” Kimmy declares, “I want to be just like her.” Mr. Tiffin’s “I think you already are,” cements the teachable moment. Kimmy, her teacher, and Jake are white, but along with capturing his characters’ changing moods and responses with artfully angled faces and other body language, Karas portrays the rest of the class with diverse features and skin tones. A gallery of women paleontologists of the past and present makes an apt closer.
A pivotal moment in a child’s life, handled with grace and sensitivity rather than conflict or ineffective lecturing. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: July 17, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-553-51143-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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
“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so...
A pro bono Twinkie of a book invites readers to fly off in a magic plane to bring clean water to our planet’s oceans, deserts, and brown children.
Following a confusingly phrased suggestion beneath a soft-focus world map to “touch the Earth. Now touch where you live,” a shake of the volume transforms it into a plane with eyes and feathered wings that flies with the press of a flat, gray “button” painted onto the page. Pressing like buttons along the journey releases a gush of fresh water from the ground—and later, illogically, provides a filtration device that changes water “from yucky to clean”—for thirsty groups of smiling, brown-skinned people. At other stops, a tap on the button will “help irrigate the desert,” and touching floating bottles and other debris in the ocean supposedly makes it all disappear so the fish can return. The 20 children Coh places on a globe toward the end are varied of skin tone, but three of the four young saviors she plants in the flier’s cockpit as audience stand-ins are white. The closing poem isn’t so openly parochial, though it seldom rises above vague feel-good sentiments: “Love the Earth, the moon and sun. / All the children can be one.”
“It’s time to head back home,” the narrator concludes. “You’ve touched the Earth in so many ways.” Who knew it would be so easy to clean the place up and give everyone a drink? (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5107-2083-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
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