A casual introduction to the topic, with resources for further study.
Readers learn the relationship between the colors of flowers and pollination.
With a googly-eyed cactus as her narrator, Levine explains why flowers need help with pollination from animals and why it’s key to the survival of plants. Since most plants need pollen from other plants of their own species to fertilize their seeds, their colors “advertise” their plants’ attraction to pollinating creatures. The text characterizes these adaptations as deception: “We trick them into carrying [pollen] for us. We’re nice about it, though—we pay them a little something for their efforts.” Intriguing facts surface: Red flowers appeal mainly to birds, since insects can’t see red. White flowers, often scented, are luminous to nocturnal moths and bats. The stinky smells of brown flowers lure flies. Green flowers, being wind-pollinated, don’t need to “talk” to animals. Using personification to convey science concepts to children is endemic—and the snarky narration will find fans. Two spreads on flowers that attract bees depict only bumblebees and honeybees, missing an opportunity to give readers a sense of the many families of bees. A labeled flower diagram does not identify the anther—only the pollen that sits atop it. D’yans’ digital-and-watercolor illustrations, while often lovely, emphasize vibrant color and aggregated species arrays, not scientific verisimilitude. The pictured plant and animal species go largely unidentified, leaving readers puzzling.
A casual introduction to the topic, with resources for further study. (pollination facts and diagrams, protecting pollinators, bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5415-1928-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
A good overview of this complex, essential organ, with an energetic seasoning of silliness.
An introduction to the lead guitar and vocalist for the Brainiacs—the human brain.
The brain (familiar to readers of Seluk’s “The Awkward Yeti” webcomic, which spun off the adult title Heart and Brain, 2015) looks like a dodgeball with arms and legs—pinkish, sturdy, and roundish, with a pair of square-framed spectacles bestowing an air of importance and hipness. Other organs of the body—tongue, lungs, stomach, muscle, and heart—are featured as members of the brain’s rock band (the verso of the dust jacket is a poster of the band). Seluk’s breezy, conversational prose and brightly colored, boldly outlined cartoon illustrations deliver basic information. The brain’s role in keeping the heart beating and other automatic functions, directing body movements, interpreting sights and sounds, remembering smells and tastes, and regulating sleep and hunger are all explained, prose augmented by dialogue balloons and information sidebars. Seluk points out, importantly, that feelings originate in the brain: “You can control how you react…but your feelings happen no matter what.” The parodied album covers on the front endpapers (including the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Green Day, Run DMC, Queen, Nirvana) will amuse parents—or at least grandparents—and the rear endpapers serve up band members’ clever social media and texting screenshots. Backmatter includes a glossary and further brain trivia but no resources or bibliography.
A good overview of this complex, essential organ, with an energetic seasoning of silliness. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-16700-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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