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
A lively once-over that gets further beneath the skin of its subject than first glances might suggest.
A stylish introduction to the structures and functions of cells, starting on “the derrière of a Boston terrier.”
Congratulating readers on being the owners of “37 trillion high-performance cells,” canine skin cell Ellie defines them as the difference between living and nonliving things. She then goes on to explain that each “itty-bitty building block” from red blood cell to sperm and egg has one or more jobs, how mitochondria and other organelles contribute to the effort, and (with help from a “cellfie”) how cells make more cells. Fisher incorporates text large and small in hand-lettered styles into swirling, exuberant painted images that more often suggest rather than clinically depict various sorts of cells and creatures made up of them; they definitely capture the breezy vein of the cellular tour, however. Ellie doesn’t get to a few things—meiosis, for instance, or viruses—but she covers considerable territory…and once she’s done (“I gotta split!”), the author finishes off with jokes, a source note for the “37 trillion” claim, and leads to more-detailed surveys of the topic.
A lively once-over that gets further beneath the skin of its subject than first glances might suggest. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-5185-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
Time to add this to collections.
Frequent collaborators Adler and Miller launch another one into outer space—literally.
His exploration accompanied by space-themed illustrations and beginning with how the day is broken into smaller units—hours, minutes, and seconds—and the difference between a.m. and p.m., Adler launches into how to read the two types of clocks: analog and digital (instead of using the word “colon,” the text reads that the “numbers [are] separated by two dots, one dot on top of the other”). He concentrates on explaining how to read analog, breaking the book into spreads that define “clockwise,” the three hands and how long they take to travel once around the clock, telling the hour, telling the minutes, and many examples, which also add in useful vocabulary like “half past,” “quarter past,” and “quarter to.” Backmatter includes a glossary of terms boldfaced in the main narrative and an author’s note about sundials, daylight savings time, military time, and time zones (the duo tackled this topic in depth in Time Zones, 2010). Miller’s crisp, colorful art features five astronauts (two present white, two have brown skin, one has green skin; two sport pigtails). Throughout, Adler brings the language and examples to kids’ level—eating a cookie takes a few seconds; passing a tray of them around may take a few minutes; and baking them could take an hour or more—though the concept of a “number-stop” as the distance/time between numbers on the clock face is a bit awkward.
Time to add this to collections. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Dec. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4092-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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