The latest entry in the History News series covers the highlights of medicine, beginning 20,000 years ago with trepanning, and covering major figures such as Galen, Pasteur, and Nightingale, as well as such lesser known doctors as Susruta, who made wax noses for people who had lost their own as part of a ``familiar Indian punishment.'' The gimmick of the series, of course, is that each volume features ``reprints'' from back issues of newspapers, complete with fake ads, corny jokes, sensational headlines, and tabloid-style writing, but lacking in some important basics. Transfusion is covered, but without a word on AIDS; the miracle of antibiotics makes news, but not the development of antibiotic-resistant strains; the development of X rays sees print, but not the problems associated with radiation. In other words, this is a classic journalistic whitewash, with all the glories of medical discoveries, but none of the disgraces. The format, with full-color and black-and-white illustrations, is elaborate, but the content is weak. (index, not seen, diagrams, charts, chronology) (Nonfiction. 8-10)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-7636-0316-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1997
Overhearing that her job at the diner might be eliminated, Pinky Pig sets out to discover new ways to improve customer satisfaction. Can she save her job and earn enough money to buy a clarinet? Her new menu brings in the customers in droves. Children will squirm over the new concoctions, with something unique for each patron: Snailburger Supreme for Hedgehog, a burger with worms lightly fried for Mole, a termite-infested burger for Aardvark, not to mention Burger Deluxe, which has three kinds of bugs! Who could resist? Yee (Fireman Small to the Rescue, 1998, etc.) pens this fable lightly, but the moral is plain: by putting others first, Pinky attains what she wants. Whimsical, often hilarious watercolors show Pinky fast at work collecting assorted bugs of all sizes and shapes. Up-and-coming young biologists might be inspired to come up with some recipes of their own. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-87548-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The diet revolution, formally reserved for adolescents and adults, takes front and center stage in a picture book that purports to be a lesson in self-esteem. When faced with an acting audition in a local play, would-be actress Hillary the cat, formerly happy with herself, looks in the mirror and finds she is too round. Goaded on by her sister, slim Felice the diet queen, Hillary suddenly adopts the strict regimen of eating dry toast, watery soup, and a bowl of lettuce while working out at all hours on the stairstepper. The motives overtake story in a well-meaning but heavy-handed message when Hillary sees the much-admired actress/singer Nina Clophoofer, who is not only round, but happy and comfortable with herself. These cartoon creatures from Caple resemble a pleasant cross between Aliki’s characters and Nancy Carlson’s, but the story is too self-conscious and unintentionally inspiring: Children who have no weight problem and who have never considered the possibility of being either too large or too small may suddenly be checking their mirrors. (Picture book. 4-7)
Pub Date: March 2, 1999
ISBN: 1-57505-261-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Carolrhoda
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1999
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