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THIS BOOK IS FULL OF HOLES

Name: THIS BOOK IS FULL OF HOLES
Author: Nora Nickum
ISBN: 9781682636008

FROM UNDERGROUND TO OUTER SPACE AND EVERYWHERE IN BETWEEN

by Nora Nickum ; illustrated by Robert Meganck ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024

Hole-y cow! This winning book adds up to a “whole” lot of fascinating, thought-provoking fun.

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Nothing can actually turn out to be a great deal of something.

Consider the humble hole. Just how many holes are there? According to this ingenious and creative treatise that purports to tell the “hole” truth about the “empty spaces” all around, they’re ubiquitous: They can be found on land, underwater, in space, and even in airplane windows; they can be created by animals as well as by humans. They serve a dizzying array of purposes (holes in the ice help ringed seals breathe while hunting fish), come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, and depths, and may develop rapidly (like sinkholes) or over time (like potholes). Readers might be surprised to discover that not all holes are empty. Brief paragraphs thoughtfully and conversationally explain various types of hole, from the indentations in waffles to sound holes in guitars and violins. Each spread starts with a statement that introduces a different type of hole and its opposite: “A hole can be tiny…or enormous.” “A hole can be made to get in…or out.” “A hole can be used to make art…or music.” This wide-ranging and insightful work will have readers looking at the world in a new light. Colorful, lively digital illustrations clarify the informative material with quirky humor. Humans are racially diverse.

Hole-y cow! This winning book adds up to a “whole” lot of fascinating, thought-provoking fun. (idiomatic sayings about holes, information on black holes, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 8-11)

Pub Date: March 5, 2024

ISBN: 9781682636008

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Peachtree

Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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1001 BEES

by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 18, 2021

Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
1001 BIRDS
by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak

- BOOK REVIEW
1001 ANTS
by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak

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YOUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE

by Jason Chin ; illustrated by Jason Chin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020

A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts.

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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)