Relative sizes—of whales, mountains, planets, galaxies, etc.—illustrated with stacked bowls containing 100 whales, stacked Mt. Everests, bags holding 100 earths next to the sun, 100 suns in a crate, etc. The pictures are colorful and entertaining, but more whimsical than accurate: arithmetic suggests that the bowl shown holding 100 whales is too big relative to the whales; and if it takes one minute to count to 100, why does it take 12 to count to a thousand? (Yes, there's a possible reason—higher numbers take longer to say—but it's not mentioned.) The targeted reader may be unlikely to make such connections, but an early book about numbers and size should foster an appreciation of scale and accuracy. In David M. Schwartz's How Much Is A Million? (1985), assumptions about counting and distance are all carefully explained, so that it's both good whimsy and good science. A usable concept book, but not exemplary. (Nonfiction. 7+)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-8075-3655-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ornamental alphabet book about the creation and endurance of planet Earth, full of reverberating symbols and images. A is for ark, the small green and blue planet drifting in a sea of space. Each subsequent letter highlights treasures of the Earth and the space ocean it floats in. A richness develops in the juxtaposition of ideas: N is for narwhal, which gave birth to the legend of the unicorn, but also for a fox’s nuzzle and “for the night and its shadows creeping.” Extinct animals are remembered, joy and jellybeans are celebrated, as are ice, languages, and the other planets. Every spread is created by one of eleven illustrators, among them Jane Ray and David Parkins, providing variety to the poetry within, and every illuminated letter glows like a painted jewel. A fine tribute. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-439-07969-1
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
O’Brien celebrates 14 prehistoric monsters by presenting each with a modern object or a human, thereby giving readers information about the size of these giants. Dinosaurs, in full-color and full-snarl, dominate the double-page layouts as they frolic and menace an airplane, fire truck, tank, automobile, and assorted people. For every creature, O’Brien provides the name, its meaning, and a brief line of text. Three of the creatures presented are not dinosaurs at all—Quetzalcoatlus, a pterosaur, Phobosuchus, a relative of the crocodiles, and Dinichthys, a bony fish—which the author mentions in the back matter. The illustrations are not drawn to scale, e.g., if Spinosaurus is really 49 feet long, as the text indicates, the car it is shown next to would appear to be 30 feet long. Readers may have to puzzle over a few scenes, but will enjoy browsing through this book, from the dramatic eyeball view of a toothy Tyrannosaurus rex on the cover to the final head-on glare from a Triceratops. (Picture book/nonfiction. 5-9)
Pub Date: April 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8050-5738-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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