A worthy, if somewhat forced, venture into multidisciplinary teaching for very young children that may require caregivers to...
A generic mother bird learns to conquer the forces of physics while going about her daily chores.
In an unusual take on the well-worn topic of birds and their nests, the common activities associated with feeding and nest-building are used to teach the science of force and gravity, albeit at a very elementary level. The preface encourages caregivers to discuss the law of motion, stating that “More force is needed to change the motion of heavier objects than to change the motion of lighter objects.” (Caregivers may find themselves searching for other words to make this clear to youngsters.) Furthermore, “Earth’s gravity pulls objects towards the Earth, which makes things fall down when they are dropped.” Aspects of these principles are illustrated with somewhat dated-looking mixed-media pictures in a muddy color palette as the bird pulls worms out of the ground; struggles to find twigs light enough to carry; creates a nest with twigs, feathers, and grass; and finally lays five speckled eggs, out of which hatch baby birds. Five questions again address the physics illustrated in the story, asking about pushing, pulling, moving, and dropping.
A worthy, if somewhat forced, venture into multidisciplinary teaching for very young children that may require caregivers to do some heavy lifting of their own. (index) (Informational picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9346-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A promising approach—but too underpowered to reach orbital velocity.
Young earthlings turn starry skies into playscapes in this first look at constellations.
On a page first glimpsed through a big die-cut hole in the front cover, Chagollan promises that stars “tell a thousand stories.” She goes on to describe brief scenarios in which residents of Earth interact with 15 Northern Hemisphere constellations. These range from Benjamin’s battle with a fierce dragon beneath Draco to a trio of unnamed ducklings who use the Swan to “find their way home.” Six further starry clusters bearing only labels are crowded into the final spread. In illustrations composed of thin white lines on matte black backgrounds (the characters formed by the stars are glossy), Aye colors significant stars yellow, connects them with dots, and encloses them in outlines of mythological figures that are as simply drawn as the animals and humans (and mermaid) below. As a practical introduction, this has little to offer budding sky watchers beyond a limited set of constellations—two, the Big Dipper and the Summer Triangle, are not official constellations at all but classified as asterisms—that are inconsistently labeled in Latin or English or both. Despite a closing invitation to go out and “find these stars in the sky,” the book provides no sky maps or verbal guidelines that would make that actually possible.
A promising approach—but too underpowered to reach orbital velocity. (Informational picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63322-509-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walter Foster Jr.
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
Despite the elements of a favorite folk tale, storytime, and a bear, this is not a honey of a tale—it’s bearly amusing.
It’s storytime, but where is the librarian?
A diverse group of children sets out to search for Ms. Merryweather. The first clue they find is prints—not footprints but paw prints. Then they discover that the librarian’s desk is sticky with spilled honey and covered in shredded and torn books. Behind the desk is “a new librarian”—a real bear, helpfully wearing a name tag that says “librarian.” The kids are excited and ask the bear to read them a scary story. Of course, he does. Opening a book about bears, he roars, growls, stomps, and roars some more. (The key verbs are printed in all caps for extra fizz.) When Ms. Merryweather appears (she was seeing to a volcano eruption in a different section), she doesn’t notice the bear. Her pick for storytime is “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” but wait, something is missing—where’s the baby bear in the story? Guess! The pencil and digital media illustrations are simple; the kids have dots for eyes and mouths, and Ms. Merryweather, a white woman with fluffy red hair, wears stereotypical eyeglasses. The book’s premise obviously springs from the familiar mispronunciation of the word “librarian” by kids, but it doesn’t figure in the oddly disjointed story at all. The metafictive movement of the little bear in and out of the story lacks not only logic, but luster.
Despite the elements of a favorite folk tale, storytime, and a bear, this is not a honey of a tale—it’s bearly amusing. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-97365-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
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