A handy and helpful guide for any aspiring web user.
Some popular forms of online self-expression get the how-to treatment.
This brisk read provides 10 lessons for those interested in bringing their voices to the internet, covering blogs, vlogs, podcasts, and everything that goes with them. The book expands upon these lessons in each chapter. For example, the “Record Your Podcast” chapter not only covers basic podcasting formats, but highlights the anatomy of a podcast, how long shows should be, theme-music development, and more. The instruction is nicely digestible for the target audience of enterprising preteens. (Their grandparents might also pick up wisdom here.) The book also features a section dedicated to internet safety, one all kids should read regardless of their online ambitions. The graphics and charts are serviceable, featuring racially diverse children and dutifully breaking up the chunks of text in a format that’s easy on the eyes. A chapter focused on developing audience is especially helpful to those looking to get their voices heard. But above all, the book positions online expression as equal to any other form of artistic expression: maintaining a web series is just as valid as photography or painting in the eyes of the book’s audience, and the author treats the subject as such without trying to talk down to readers or exaggerate. The lessons are taught in the best kind of way: the way that will get kids to listen.
A handy and helpful guide for any aspiring web user. (Nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: July 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63322-105-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Walter Foster Jr.
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
A cute angle any way you slice it.
Why use pie charts to demonstrate basic principles of geometry when actual pies will do?
In her equally scrumptious follow-up to Geology Is a Piece of Cake (2017), Coppens once again keeps the focus on the food—linking introductions to seven fundamental concepts of geometry, including “Symmetry,” “Tessellations,” and “Angles,” by quickly turning each topic pie-ward: “How does rotational symmetry relate to pie?” “How do polygons relate to pie?” “How does Pi (π) relate to pie?” The illustrations offer a similarly enlightening (not to mention mouthwatering) mix of simple diagrams and color photos (most by the author herself) of beautifully decorated pies, sliced or whole as required for demonstrative purposes. Clear, simple line diagrams complement these photos and ably help to integrate the content. A discussion of right, complementary, acute, and obtuse angles (and more) yields explorations of both equitable slicing and relative appetite size. Recipes? Of course…eight in all, ranging from appetizer-sized samosas and a savory quiche to a butterscotch pie and a lattice-topped apple masterpiece (demonstrating parallel and perpendicular lines, natch). All come with detailed instructions, though for all but the final array of miniature berry pies, pre-made dough or crusts are recommended. The author closes with 20 challenging review questions (about geometry, but cast in pie-centric language) and a final photo gallery labeled “Just Desserts” to drool over.
A cute angle any way you slice it. (Glossary) (Nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: March 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-943431-52-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Tumblehome Learning
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An engaging argument for keeping bugs as pets.
A debut nonfiction book offers stories about endearing insect pets.
In this work, Lori-Michele introduces readers to the menagerie of insects that have kept her company over the past decade. Her pets have mostly been Western conifer seed bugs—a handful of shield bugs round out the collection—and the author has gotten to know the insects as individuals as well as on a species level. Lori-Michele explains how her first Western conifer seed bug came to take up residence in her home. She recounts the system she developed for interacting with the insects and taking care of them, from bottle caps filled with sugar water to small cloth beds where the bugs tuck themselves in every night. All the insects have names, and the author describes the highly individual personalities she has observed in each. Much of the text consists of stories about the antics of Maybe, Peppercorn, Cautious, Ribbon, and their compatriots, who enjoy being petted, keep their owner company while she watches TV or uses a computer, and occasionally get rough with other bugs. Lori-Michele’s close connection to her insects has led her to conclude that they are capable of both feeling and understanding emotions and are more intelligent than both entomologists and laypeople generally believe (“Entomologists completely dismiss the notion of the Western conifer’s ability to love and their intelligence because they are not shown to look for these things or that they matter”). Insect aficionados will be tempted to embrace the book’s detailed instructions for caring for Western conifer seed bugs after reading the author’s passionate advocacy for them. The text can be repetitive (for instance, readers are instructed three times in 10 pages to clean and refill the bottle cap feeders), and the prose is unpolished, with occasional comma splices and misused words. But Lori-Michele’s enthusiasm for her bugs makes for enjoyable reading, and her meticulous observation of their behavior supports her arguments for their emotional intelligence. Numerous photographs by the author throughout the text illustrate the behaviors described and showcase the insects’ individuality.
An engaging argument for keeping bugs as pets.Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-98-461725-8
Page Count: 174
Publisher: Bowker
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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