An inconsistent jumble, better for browsing than research.
Introductions to celestial wonders—some astronomically distant, others closer to home.
Casting her subjects as “cosmic heroes,” NASA science writer González profiles a randomly mixed lot of 15 stars, asterisms, and residents of our solar system—beginning with the moon, which is a “Hero of Rhythm and Renewal” for its regular phases, and finishing up with that “Hero of Pageantry and Protection,” our insulating, aurora-generating atmosphere. Aside from artificial satellites (“Heroes of Communication and Cooperation”), all are natural. In each double-spread entry, the author explains how to find the object (a no-brainer for the sun and the Milky Way but useful for spotting, for instance, Acrux, one of the stars in the Southern Cross), some of its distinctive features, and a “Brief History” that gathers relevant names and lore from various world cultures. Though capable of poetic lines like “Sirius is the brightest star in our dark, velveteen sky,” the author occasionally oversimplifies, as when she claims that two galaxies are in the same “region of space” as Ursa Major. Meadows opens each chapter with an invigorating montage of swirling colors, evocative motifs, and stylized historical and mythological figures, then goes on to brighten ensuing pages with smaller images in the same stylized vein.
An inconsistent jumble, better for browsing than research. (glossary, further reading) (Nonfiction. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781419767807
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Magic Cat
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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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