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CROSSING

Name: CROSSING
Author: Philip Booth
ISBN: 0-7636-1420-3

by Philip Booth & illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2001

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The locomotive sounds its old siren song in this pairing of a poem from Booth’s first book and spectacularly realistic art from Russia-born Ibatoulline. As the poet tallies passing freight cars—“B&M boxcar, / boxcar again, / Frisco gondola, / eight-nine-ten…”—an old-time, small town gathering of children and motorists gather at the crossing to watch, wait, and wave at last as the red caboose rumbles by. Ibatoulline skillfully captures a sense of the rolling stock’s hugeness, depicts rust and machinery with magnificent precision, gives his human cast a cheery, Norman Rockwell–style wholesomeness, and backs off in one spread to show all 100 cars (count them) spiraling into a tunnel. He is not so able at capturing a feeling of motion, however, so the train looks like it’s standing still, and since he has chosen to view the cars closeup, the entire shape of each is seldom discernible. All who have succumbed to the allure of the railroad will be stopped in their own tracks by this eye-filling, show-stopping debut showcase, but younger trainiacs may still prefer to hop aboard Donald Crews’s Freight Train (1978). (Picture book/poetry. 6-8)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-7636-1420-3

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2001

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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THE DOG THAT DUG FOR DINOSAURS

by Shirley Redmond & illustrated by Simon Sullivan ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2004

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This easy reader for children reading at the fluency level recounts the story of a girl named Mary Ann Anning and her dog, Tray. They lived on the coast of England in the early 1800s, although the time frame is given only as “a long, long time ago.” Mary Ann and Tray became famous for their discoveries of fossils, including dinosaur bones. They discovered the first pterodactyl found in England, and the name was assigned to their fossil. The story focuses a little too much on the dog, and the title misses a great opportunity to completely acknowledge a girl accomplishing something important in the scientific world, especially in a much earlier era and without formal training or education. Despite this drawback, both Mary Ann and Tray are appealing characters and the discovery of the fossils and subsequent notice from scientists, collectors, and even royalty is appealing and well written. Sullivan’s illustrations provide intriguing period details in costumes, tools, and buildings, as well as a clever front endpaper of fossil-strewn ground covered with muddy paw prints. (Easy reader. 6-8)

Pub Date: July 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-689-85708-X

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Aladdin

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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PROFESSOR ASTRO CAT'S SPACE ROCKETS

From the Professor Astro Cat series

by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018

Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.

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The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.

Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.

Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)