Facts and fancy combine for a planetary road trip to remember.
The three hosts of the award-winning science podcast Brains On! invite young readers to tag along as they journey to the center of the Earth.
In their state-of-the-art minivan (reminiscent of Joanna Cole’s Magic School Bus), the authors travel across land and water and into the air to investigate “remote realms.” For each trip, they pack helpful tools and snacks appropriate to their destination. Chapter by chapter, they explore the Earth’s layers and tectonic plates; deep-sea wonders and “the wide world of water”; sand, soil, and land formations; and, finally, the atmosphere, weather, and outer space. The chatty, informally written text invites readers to enjoy their discoveries. Children may groan at the cheesy jokes, but their attention will be held by the lively visual presentation that includes panels, mystery photos, graphic sidebars, and more. Recurring “Break It Down” text boxes unpack some scientific terms. Food metaphors and wordplay abound, aiding retention of facts and concepts. The often amusing cartoony illustrations, rendered digitally, feature caricatures of the three apparently White podcast hosts. Other characters with varying skin tones occasionally appear. As a broad overview of earth science, this works, though more knowledgeable readers may find it more of a smorgasbord than a four-course meal. The backmatter includes a list of relevant podcast episodes, a selected bibliography, and an index. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Facts and fancy combine for a planetary road trip to remember. (Nonfiction. 9-14)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-45936-5
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Contentwise, an arbitrary assortment…but sure to draw fans of comics, of science, or of both.
Flash, Batman, and other characters from the DC Comics universe tackle supervillains and STEM-related topics and sometimes, both.
Credited to 20 writers and illustrators in various combinations, the 10 episodes invite readers to tag along as Mera and Aquaman visit oceanic zones from epipelagic to hadalpelagic; Supergirl helps a young scholar pick a science-project topic by taking her on a tour of the solar system; and Swamp Thing lends Poison Ivy a hand to describe how DNA works (later joining Swamp Kid to scuttle a climate-altering scheme by Arcane). In other episodes, various costumed creations explain the ins and outs of diverse large- and small-scale phenomena, including electricity, atomic structure, forensic techniques, 3-D printing, and the lactate threshold. Presumably on the supposition that the characters will be more familiar to readers than the science, the minilectures tend to start from simple basics, but the figures are mostly both redrawn to look more childlike than in the comics and identified only in passing. Drawing styles and page designs differ from chapter to chapter but not enough to interrupt overall visual unity and flow—and the cast is sufficiently diverse to include roles for superheroes (and villains) of color like Cyborg, Kid Flash, and the Latina Green Lantern, Jessica Cruz. Appended lists of websites and science-based YouTube channels, plus instructions for homespun activities related to each episode, point inspired STEM-winders toward further discoveries.
Contentwise, an arbitrary assortment…but sure to draw fans of comics, of science, or of both. (Graphic nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77950-382-4
Page Count: 160
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Hot on the heels of the well-received Leonardo da Vinci (2005) comes another agreeably chatty entry in the Giants of Science series. Here the pioneering physicist is revealed as undeniably brilliant, but also cantankerous, mean-spirited, paranoid and possibly depressive. Newton’s youth and annus mirabilis receive respectful treatment, the solitude enforced by family estrangement and then the plague seen as critical to the development of his thoughtful, methodical approach. His subsequent squabbles with the rest of the scientific community—he refrained from publishing one treatise until his rival was dead—further support the image of Newton as a scientific lone wolf. Krull’s colloquial treatment sketches Newton’s advances in clearly understandable terms without bogging the text down with detailed explanations. A final chapter on “His Impact” places him squarely in the pantheon of great thinkers, arguing that both his insistence on the scientific method and his theories of physics have informed all subsequent scientific thought. A bibliography, web site and index round out the volume; the lack of detail on the use of sources is regrettable in an otherwise solid offering for middle-grade students. (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05921-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
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