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A GIRL'S GUIDE TO THE WILD

BE AN ADVENTURE-SEEKING OUTDOOR EXPLORER!

Quite handy for the right girl.

Girls seeking to spend time outdoors will find information, inspiration, and planning tips in this guide.

Part 1, “So, You Want To Go Outside,” begins with the big picture. A chapter on “Places Near and Far” lists national parks, natural wonders, and World Heritage Sites that might inspire long-term trip planning. Chapter 2 encourages readers to find group opportunities, with a list of useful organizations, and Chapter 3 describes various outdoor sports and activities. Part 2, “The Basics,” contains packing lists for day and overnight trips, instructions for setting up a comfortable campsite, recipes for snacks and camp meals, and “Girl Stuff” such as body care in the wild. Part 3 covers “Advanced Skills” like recognizing weather clues, map reading, safety, and nature observation. Throughout the book are instructions for related activities as well as profiles of women who pioneered various outdoor skills, with clean, full-page black-and-white illustrations. Girls new to the outdoors may find the deluge of information a bit overwhelming; with its simple layout, this isn’t the book to draw in girls who aren’t already interested in the topic. This guide is most useful as a reference book for girls who have access to the outdoors and some basic experience and want to take on more responsibility. A useful list of resources—websites and books—follows the text.

Quite handy for the right girl. (index) (Nonfiction. 9-14)

Pub Date: April 23, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-63217-171-9

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Little Bigfoot/Sasquatch

Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019

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PLAY LIKE A GIRL

A sincere, genuine, and uplifting book that affirms the importance of being true to yourself.

Middle school drama hits hard in this coming-of-age graphic memoir.

Natural competitor Misty has faced off against the boys for years, always coming out on top, but now they’re moving on without her into the land of full-contact football. Never one to back away from a challenge, Misty resolves to join the team and convinces her best friend, Bree, to join her. While Misty pours herself into practicing, obviously uninterested Bree—who was motivated more by getting to be around boys than doing sports—drifts toward popular queen bee Ava, creating an uneasy dynamic. Feeling estranged from Bree, Misty, who typically doesn’t think much about her appearance, tries to navigate seventh grade—even experimenting with a more traditionally feminine gender expression—while also mastering her newfound talent for tackling and facing hostility from some boys on the team. Readers with uncommon interests will relate to the theme of being the odd one out. Social exclusion and cutting remarks can be traumatic, so it’s therapeutic to see Misty begin to embrace her differences instead of trying to fit in with frenemies who don’t value her. The illustrations are alive with color and rich emotional details, pairing perfectly with the heartfelt storytelling. The husband-and-wife duo’s combined efforts will appeal to fans of Raina Telgemeier and Shannon Hale. Main characters present as White; some background characters read as Black.

A sincere, genuine, and uplifting book that affirms the importance of being true to yourself. (Graphic memoir. 9-13)

Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-06-306469-0

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022

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FLASH FACTS

Contentwise, an arbitrary assortment…but sure to draw fans of comics, of science, or of both.

Flash, Batman, and other characters from the DC Comics universe tackle supervillains and STEM-related topics and sometimes, both.

Credited to 20 writers and illustrators in various combinations, the 10 episodes invite readers to tag along as Mera and Aquaman visit oceanic zones from epipelagic to hadalpelagic; Supergirl helps a young scholar pick a science-project topic by taking her on a tour of the solar system; and Swamp Thing lends Poison Ivy a hand to describe how DNA works (later joining Swamp Kid to scuttle a climate-altering scheme by Arcane). In other episodes, various costumed creations explain the ins and outs of diverse large- and small-scale phenomena, including electricity, atomic structure, forensic techniques, 3-D printing, and the lactate threshold. Presumably on the supposition that the characters will be more familiar to readers than the science, the minilectures tend to start from simple basics, but the figures are mostly both redrawn to look more childlike than in the comics and identified only in passing. Drawing styles and page designs differ from chapter to chapter but not enough to interrupt overall visual unity and flow—and the cast is sufficiently diverse to include roles for superheroes (and villains) of color like Cyborg, Kid Flash, and the Latina Green Lantern, Jessica Cruz. Appended lists of websites and science-based YouTube channels, plus instructions for homespun activities related to each episode, point inspired STEM-winders toward further discoveries.

Contentwise, an arbitrary assortment…but sure to draw fans of comics, of science, or of both. (Graphic nonfiction. 9-12)

Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021

ISBN: 978-1-77950-382-4

Page Count: 160

Publisher: DC

Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021

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