Browsable fare for doomscrollers, though report writers should look elsewhere.
A lighthearted assortment of flubs and flops, from New Coke to the Black Death and the sinking of the Titanic.
Setting a goofy tone from the start with the subtitle, the author offers young disaster junkies a sampler of forehead slappers from ancient times to (roughly) the present. “Fun” as it may be to encounter quick accounts of, say, Boston’s Great Molasses Flood, the solar-powered Japanese lunar explorer that landed both upside down and in permanent shade, or how the Australian army was once defeated by a flock of emus, it’s hard to laugh at tragic incidents like the losses of the Titanic and the Eastland or the botched D-Day rehearsal Exercise Tiger, in which probably hundreds of Allied soldiers were killed by friendly fire. Moreover, not only does the author sometimes leave out noteworthy details (no mention, for instance, of cannibalism in the “Donner Party” entry), she neglects to provide sources or, for most entries, contexts or even dates. Older readers may greet with skepticism her assertion that Hannibal lost “more than half his army” to an avalanche while crossing the Alps or the suggestion of a link between the bubonic plague in Europe and a Papal decree banning rat-eating cats. In Kasperowicz’s cartoon illustrations, a racially and culturally diverse cast echo the overall jocularity with sight gags and comical visual notes.
Browsable fare for doomscrollers, though report writers should look elsewhere. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 8-10)Pub Date: March 3, 2026
ISBN: 9781684495634
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Neon Squid/Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts.
From a Caldecott and Sibert honoree, an invitation to take a mind-expanding journey from the surface of our planet to the furthest reaches of the observable cosmos.
Though Chin’s assumption that we are even capable of understanding the scope of the universe is quixotic at best, he does effectively lead viewers on a journey that captures a sense of its scale. Following the model of Kees Boeke’s classic Cosmic View: The Universe in Forty Jumps (1957), he starts with four 8-year-old sky watchers of average height (and different racial presentations). They peer into a telescope and then are comically startled by the sudden arrival of an ostrich that is twice as tall…and then a giraffe that is over twice as tall as that…and going onward and upward, with ellipses at each page turn connecting the stages, past our atmosphere and solar system to the cosmic web of galactic superclusters. As he goes, precisely drawn earthly figures and features in the expansive illustrations give way to ever smaller celestial bodies and finally to glimmering swirls of distant lights against gulfs of deep black before ultimately returning to his starting place. A closing recap adds smaller images and additional details. Accompanying the spare narrative, valuable side notes supply specific lengths or distances and define their units of measure, accurately explain astronomical phenomena, and close with the provocative observation that “the observable universe is centered on us, but we are not in the center of the entire universe.”
A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts. (afterword, websites, further reading) (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4623-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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