by Sophie Prénat ; illustrated by Vinciane Schleef ; translated by Wendeline A. Hardenberg ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4, 2020
A routine, juiceless candidate chugging straight for the storage yard.
How modern freight and passenger trains look and go, with flaps to offer inside views.
As exercises in bland generalities go, this French import stays solidly on the rails—pairing labels or colorless comments (“The engine car is the only part of the train with an engine”) to impersonal painted views of toylike trains. These all look inert, whether en route through artificial-looking settings or sitting at platforms amid diverse clots of small human figures, all with smiles and dot eyes, strolling or scurrying past. A spare assortment of flaps and pull tabs open sliding doors, show rows of empty or occupied seats, depict a select gallery of freight-car types, or allow glimpses of wheels, electrical arms, and the engineer in the cab. Aside from a postage-stamp–size image of a “Peruvian mountain train” and the barest nose of a maglev, the trains on view, named or not, are all European (or partly, in the case of the Trans-Siberian Railway).
A routine, juiceless candidate chugging straight for the storage yard. (Informational picture book/novelty. 6-8)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 979-1-03631-358-5
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Twirl/Chronicle
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Share your opinion of this book
More In The Series
by Sandra Laboucarie ; illustrated by da-fanny ; translated by Wendeline A. Hardenberg
by Sandra Laboucarie ; illustrated by Emilie Lapeyre ; translated by Wendeline A. Hardenberg
by Ian Graham ; illustrated by Stephen Biesty ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018
Like its series mates from Giant Vehicles (2014) on, a pleaser for fans of big rigs.
Die-cut flaps offer glimpses inside eight 20th-century fliers, from Louis Bleriot’s 1909 Type XI to the space shuttle.
Biesty’s exactingly detailed painted portraits are the stars of the show—each presenting a type of passenger liner or freight hauler (most of them big and bulky) poised in flight, viewed from slightly above or below. Each also features four or so inconspicuous flaps that lift to reveal neatly drawn seats and storage spaces, internal bracing, fuel tanks, toilets, and other points of interest. Along with very brief accounts of each craft’s career, Graham adds surrounding captions that point out ailerons and cockpits, engines, exhaust ducts, and other physical features. Small human figures, most but not all light-skinned, impart a sense of scale. Where space permits, pertinent spot images of related items of interest—the Wrights’ Flyer, Harriet Quimby, a zeppelin, or other side subject—are tucked in. Only two aircraft covered, the U.S. Boeing 747 and the Russian Mil Mi-8 helicopter, are still in common use, so this album may appeal more to fans of aviation’s past than its present or future.
Like its series mates from Giant Vehicles (2014) on, a pleaser for fans of big rigs. (Informational novelty. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0281-6
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Templar/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
Share your opinion of this book
More by Ian Graham
BOOK REVIEW
by Ian Graham ; illustrated by Stephen Biesty
BOOK REVIEW
by Oliver Green & Ian Graham & Philip Wilkinson & Andrew Nahum
BOOK REVIEW
by Ian Graham ; illustrated by Carles Ballestros
by James Carter ; illustrated by Aaron Cushley ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2019
Phoned-in illustrations keep this quick overview firmly planted on the launch pad.
A capsule history of space exploration, from early stargazing to probes roaming the surface of Mars.
In loosely rhymed couplets Carter’s high-speed account zooms past the inventions of constellations, telescopes, and flying machines to the launches of Sputnik I, the “Saturn Five” (spelled out, probably, to facilitate the rhyme) that put men on the moon, and later probes. He caps it all with an enticing suggestion: “We’ll need an astronaut (or two)— / so what do you think? Could it be YOU?” Cushley lines up a notably diverse array of prospective young space travelers for this finish, but anachronistic earlier views of a dark-skinned astronaut floating in orbit opposite poetic references to the dogs, cats, and other animals sent into space in the 1950s and a model of the space shuttle on a shelf next to a line of viewers watching the televised moon landing in 1969 show no great regard for verisimilitude. Also, his full-page opening picture of the Challenger, its ports painted to look like a smiley face, just moments before it blew up is a decidedly odd choice to illustrate the poem’s opening countdown. As with his cosmological lyric Once upon a Star (2018, illustrated by Mar Hernández), the poet closes with a page of further facts arranged as an acrostic.
Phoned-in illustrations keep this quick overview firmly planted on the launch pad. (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-68010-147-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Share your opinion of this book
More by James Carter
BOOK REVIEW
by James Carter ; illustrated by Neal Layton
BOOK REVIEW
by James Carter ; illustrated by Mar Hernández
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.