A promising approach—but too underpowered to reach orbital velocity.
Young earthlings turn starry skies into playscapes in this first look at constellations.
On a page first glimpsed through a big die-cut hole in the front cover, Chagollan promises that stars “tell a thousand stories.” She goes on to describe brief scenarios in which residents of Earth interact with 15 Northern Hemisphere constellations. These range from Benjamin’s battle with a fierce dragon beneath Draco to a trio of unnamed ducklings who use the Swan to “find their way home.” Six further starry clusters bearing only labels are crowded into the final spread. In illustrations composed of thin white lines on matte black backgrounds (the characters formed by the stars are glossy), Aye colors significant stars yellow, connects them with dots, and encloses them in outlines of mythological figures that are as simply drawn as the animals and humans (and mermaid) below. As a practical introduction, this has little to offer budding sky watchers beyond a limited set of constellations—two, the Big Dipper and the Summer Triangle, are not official constellations at all but classified as asterisms—that are inconsistently labeled in Latin or English or both. Despite a closing invitation to go out and “find these stars in the sky,” the book provides no sky maps or verbal guidelines that would make that actually possible.
A promising approach—but too underpowered to reach orbital velocity. (Informational picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-63322-509-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Walter Foster Jr.
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
With the possible exception of the opossum’s unlovely behind, more likely to elicit responses of “Cute!” than “Gross!”...
A wildlife photographer follows up Whose Butt? (2012) with a fresh portfolio of posteriors.
Showing no traces of fecal matter and only rarely even a glimpse of bare skin, the fuzzy or feathery fundaments on view belong to young creatures ranging from moose to mustang, cottontail to sandhill crane—all photographed in outdoor settings and all followed by longer-shot views of the whole animal, usually with a parent. The accompanying hints and nature notes are informative, if cutesy (“HANG ON! Baby opossums can hang by their tails, but as they grow, they become too heavy for upside-down fun”). In a more businesslike listing at the end, the author adds further comments about diet, range, and behavior for each, along with smaller headshots. Though any mention or image of “butts” will reliably get a rise from young audiences, overall this is more about baby animals in general than a specific portion of their anatomy.
With the possible exception of the opossum’s unlovely behind, more likely to elicit responses of “Cute!” than “Gross!” (Informational picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-59193-783-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Adventure Publications
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
Not a high-octane outing, but it could fill in some background for curious would-be motorists just out of their car seats.
Pull tabs and other special effects rev up this look at the lives of cars, from factory to junkyard.
The book opens with a sparse “museum” of early autos and closes with a visit to a Formula 1 racetrack. In between, single-topic spreads take generic automobiles from design lab to dealer, supply glimpses of a dashboard and beneath the hood, then go on to show what happens at a repair shop, a service station, and a car wash. Moving elements, one or two per page, are fairly sturdy and relatively varied—ranging from large flaps to geared wheels, tabs, and slots that work a hydraulic lift or allow a wreck to be hauled aboard a tow truck. In Hardenberg’s translation from the French, Krasinski’s simply phrased labels and commentary incorporate some distinctive vocabulary: “prototype,” “exhaust pipe,” “pre-owned.” Though hybrid, electric, and driverless cars receive nods, the focus throughout is mainly on traditional gas guzzlers. Latyk darkens the skin of some of the stylized human figures in his simple illustrations, but like the cars on display, most are small on the page and generic of feature.
Not a high-octane outing, but it could fill in some background for curious would-be motorists just out of their car seats. (Informational novelty. 4-6)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-2-40800-790-4
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
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