A masterful blend of biography, science, and philosophy that makes profound ideas feel wonderfully attainable.
Sibert Medalist Day transforms Charles Darwin’s daily walking routine into an enchanting blueprint for creative thinking.
The book opens with a delightfully unconventional instruction manual: “First you need a rock.” What follows is an intimate portrait of Darwin’s “Sandwalk”—the path he traversed as he pondered deep thoughts. Stacking rocks before he began, he knocked one down with each completed loop; simple conflicts were “one-rock problems,” while tougher ones were “two-rocks, three-rocks, even four-rocks.” Day’s conversational prose weaves seamlessly among Darwin’s voyage on the Beagle, his groundbreaking observations of finches and giant sloths, and his methodical approach to wrestling with the radical concept of natural selection. Never condescending, the text instead invites readers to see themselves as fellow thinkers capable of their own discoveries. Hooper’s mixed-media illustrations are nothing short of spectacular, combining vintage engravings, photographs of actual rocks and specimens, painted landscapes, and printmaking techniques, all resulting in richly textured pages. Real scientific illustrations of Darwin’s finches appear alongside a whimsical globe, while the recurring motif of blue walking paths, both literal and figurative, connects all elements. The book succeeds on multiple levels: as an accessible introduction to evolution, a meditation on the creative process, and gentle encouragement for readers to embrace their own thinking paths. Substantive author’s notes provide historical context without overwhelming younger children.
A masterful blend of biography, science, and philosophy that makes profound ideas feel wonderfully attainable. (bibliography) (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9780823458509
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy.
Robo-parents Diode and Lugnut present daughter Cathode with a new little brother—who requires, unfortunately, some assembly.
Arriving in pieces from some mechanistic version of Ikea, little Flange turns out to be a cute but complicated tyke who immediately falls apart…and then rockets uncontrollably about the room after an overconfident uncle tinkers with his basic design. As a squad of helpline techies and bevies of neighbors bearing sludge cake and like treats roll in, the cluttered and increasingly crowded scene deteriorates into madcap chaos—until at last Cath, with help from Roomba-like robodog Sprocket, stages an intervention by whisking the hapless new arrival off to a backyard workshop for a proper assembly and software update. “You’re such a good big sister!” warbles her frazzled mom. Wiesner’s robots display his characteristic clean lines and even hues but endearingly look like vaguely anthropomorphic piles of random jet-engine parts and old vacuum cleaners loosely connected by joints of armored cable. They roll hither and thither through neatly squared-off panels and pages in infectiously comical dismay. Even the end’s domestic tranquility lasts only until Cathode spots the little box buried in the bigger one’s packing material: “TWINS!” (This book was reviewed digitally with 9-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 52% of actual size.)
A retro-futuristic romp, literally and figuratively screwy. (Picture book. 5-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-544-98731-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2020
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