CHARLES DARWIN'S ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES

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CHARLES DARWIN'S ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES

Name: CHARLES DARWIN'S ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES
Author: Sabina Radeva
ISBN: 978-1-9848-9491-5

adapted by Sabina Radeva ; illustrated by Sabina Radeva ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 29, 2019

Cogent review of some landmark ideas, now seemingly obvious but once revolutionary.

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An introduction for younger readers to the major ideas in a seminal work of science.

Radeva, a graphic designer with a background in molecular biology, uses a combination of simply phrased statements and short quotes to boil down Darwin’s main notions about variety among both wild and domesticated animals, the struggle for existence that drives the process of natural selection, the development of instinct and of complex organs over long spans of time, and the anatomical resemblances in seemingly disparate species that point to common ancestries. Studiously avoiding mention of religion (“For most of human history, many people believed that everything on the world was created all at once”), she sketches out the genesis of Darwin’s thesis with nods to Buffon and Lamarck, brings his theories up to the present with discussions of epigenetics and other recent evolutionary insights, then closes with rebuttals to select “Misconceptions” about Darwinism’s precepts. Opening and closing with dozens of labeled butterflies and other insects on the endpapers, the illustrations feature gatherings of naïve-style flora and (mostly) fauna, drawn in minimal but precise detail and lit with bright, clear colors. Human figures—beginning with Adam and Eve in leafy garb and ending, except for a few vignettes, with an evolutionary line leading up to the white-bearded scientist himself—default to white.

Cogent review of some landmark ideas, now seemingly obvious but once revolutionary. (author’s note, bibliography, glossary) (Informational picture book. 8-11)

Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-9848-9491-5

Page Count: 64

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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1001 BEES

by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 18, 2021

Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.

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This book is buzzing with trivia.

Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.

Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)

Pub Date: May 18, 2021

ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Thames & Hudson

Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S ANIMALS

- BOOK REVIEW
1001 BIRDS
by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak

- BOOK REVIEW
1001 ANTS
by Joanna Rzezak ; illustrated by Joanna Rzezak

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YOUR PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE

by Jason Chin ; illustrated by Jason Chin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020

A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts.

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From a Caldecott and Sibert honoree, an invitation to take a mind-expanding journey from the surface of our planet to the furthest reaches of the observable cosmos.

Though Chin’s assumption that we are even capable of understanding the scope of the universe is quixotic at best, he does effectively lead viewers on a journey that captures a sense of its scale. Following the model of Kees Boeke’s classic Cosmic View: The Universe in Forty Jumps (1957), he starts with four 8-year-old sky watchers of average height (and different racial presentations). They peer into a telescope and then are comically startled by the sudden arrival of an ostrich that is twice as tall…and then a giraffe that is over twice as tall as that…and going onward and upward, with ellipses at each page turn connecting the stages, past our atmosphere and solar system to the cosmic web of galactic superclusters. As he goes, precisely drawn earthly figures and features in the expansive illustrations give way to ever smaller celestial bodies and finally to glimmering swirls of distant lights against gulfs of deep black before ultimately returning to his starting place. A closing recap adds smaller images and additional details. Accompanying the spare narrative, valuable side notes supply specific lengths or distances and define their units of measure, accurately explain astronomical phenomena, and close with the provocative observation that “the observable universe is centered on us, but we are not in the center of the entire universe.”

A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts. (afterword, websites, further reading) (Informational picture book. 8-10)