Excellent and absolutely necessary.
A comic-book primer on anxiety.
In this follow-up to the remarkable Consent (For Kids!) (2019), a variety of cartoon characters learn what anxiety is, how it can affect the body and mind, and how to manage or even overcome it. Anxiety is depicted as a lumpy gray blob, like unappetizing oatmeal with eyes and the occasional limb, but isn’t demonized. At first readers learn that “Anxiety can alert us to a threat,” as the blob helpfully yells, “Look out!” while pointing at a sign labeled “Danger.” Brian continues: “But it can also feel uncomfortable,” as a child gets stuck in the blob. The brain also shows up as a character, a strangely endearing figure that talks back but can also be fooled. This entertaining, appealing, and friendly guide will be immensely helpful for readers of all ages, and it succeeds in being simple, direct, and clear without a hint of condescension. In the grayscale art with pops of yellow, child characters are depicted with various skin tones and hairstyles; one uses a wheelchair. Brian encourages readers to work hard to confront their anxieties, without assigning blame or fault if they can’t, and the concrete, practical tips offered are invaluable. Despite the serious topic, it’s also consistently funny, with fears both familiar and ridiculous presented in similarly arch tones.
Excellent and absolutely necessary. (Graphic nonfiction. 6-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-316-49519-6
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Anatomically exact and often funny to boot.
A lively overview of our bodies’ tiny but mighty basic components, with a chapter on the additional 30 trillion or so immigrants that live alongside them.
Following an outstanding study of biodiversity, Full of Life, illustrated by Sara Gillingham (2022), Thomas takes a younger intended audience down to the cellular level for an equally absorbing, at times amusing inside tour of nine body systems—including, unconventionally, the skeletomuscular and integumentary systems—and some of the 200 different types of specialized cells that comprise them, from osteoblasts and ova to detritus-chomping Kupffer cells (“They are your liver’s sniffer dogs”) and the ciliated epithelial cells that run a “snot escalator” to keep the lungs clear. Following brief forays into cancer and aging, Thomas also surveys the largely commensal or even beneficial microbiota that share our anatomical community and, in numbers at least, make up fully half of “one of the most complex things in the entire universe—you!” Cooper mixes images of a racially diverse cast, with a fascinating blend of body parts highlighted (fat cells twirled around a character’s arms, cells swirling around another character’s body), with simplified but recognizable depictions of cell types blessedly free of googly eyes or other anthropomorphic tweaks. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Anatomically exact and often funny to boot. (glossary, index) (Informational picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2023
ISBN: 9781803380179
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Welbeck Children's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2022
Tastefully learn about other cultures? Yes please!
A look at intriguing foods around the world.
Guided by Anna, a dark-haired, light-skinned foodie, readers are whisked around the globe to nearly every continent. Perhaps they’d like to try the Incan frog shake from South America or the North American delicacies escamoles and Rocky Mountain oysters—better known as ant larvae and fried testicles. Maybe something fermented is more their speed, in which case they’ll need to hoof it to Greenland for kiviak, fermented birds prepared inside a hollowed-out seal skin, or to Iceland for hákari, a pungent dish of cured shark. The book may put off animal lovers—indeed, the description of the force-feeding that results in duck liver pâté and the section on sannakji, wriggling octopus eaten live, aren’t for the squeamish. But many readers will find the entries fascinating, especially as Romero Mariño explores the cultural relevance of many dishes, from the low cost of the abundant Thames-dwelling eels, consumed by the English working class during the Industrial Revolution, to the ceremonial aspect of the Maasai tribal blood and milk shake. Though the author urges readers to be open-minded when it comes to new foods, the use of words like disgusting and weird might discourage that. Still, she makes clear throughout that attitudes toward different cuisines are inherently subjective. Cartoonish illustrations look refreshingly bright, in bold colors.
Tastefully learn about other cultures? Yes please! (Nonfiction. 7-10)Pub Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781914519703
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orange Mosquito
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
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