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ARCTIC SPRING

Name: ARCTIC SPRING
Author: Sue Vyner
ISBN: 0-670-84934-0

by Sue Vyner & illustrated by Tim Vyner ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1993

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Several animals (arctic hare, arctic fox, ringed seals, narwhal, some unidentified birds) begin their spring cycles of activity. The focus is on a polar bear, first seen emerging from a den dug into a snowbank on the drifting pack ice; two cubs push their way out into the intensifying sunshine at the very end. The first pictures are awash in cold blues; pale yellows and greens creep in, to become stronger and brighter with each page turn. Close-up paintings of the animals' faces are especially appealing. An appendix adds a few facts about the animals and a map of the Arctic. One quibble: the text refers to the polar bear, hare, and fox as being ``awake'' because the winter darkness has ended, implying that they have been hibernating; but, while the polar bear undergoes a period of relative dormancy, none of these animals actually hibernates. Interesting to pair with Dunphy's Here Is the Arctic Winter (p. 454), which shows most of the same animals against a darker, harsher backdrop and with a much stronger sense of their predator/prey relationships. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: May 1, 1993

ISBN: 0-670-84934-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1993

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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PROFESSOR ASTRO CAT'S SPACE ROCKETS

From the Professor Astro Cat series

by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018

Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.

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The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.

Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.

Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Flying Eye Books

Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
PROFESSOR ASTRO CAT'S DEEP SEA VOYAGE
by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman

- BOOK REVIEW
ASTRO KITTENS
by Dominic Walliman ; illustrated by Ben Newman

- BOOK REVIEW
PROFESSOR ASTRO CAT'S HUMAN BODY ODYSSEY
by Dominic Walliman & Ben Newman ; illustrated by Ben Newman

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THE PIRATE OF KINDERGARTEN

by George Ella Lyon & illustrated by Lynne Avril ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 22, 2010

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Ginny loves reading circle, but getting there is a bit of a challenge because only half the chairs are real. Figuring out which words to read is tough, too. See, “Ginny’s eyes [play] tricks”—she’s got double vision and doesn’t realize that’s unusual. “We read it just once,” says her teacher, and, “Don’t squint.” Lyon’s simple, declarative text effortlessly puts readers into Ginny’s head, and Avril’s whimsical mixed-media illustrations give them her eyes, overlaying one image slightly off its original in a satisfyingly disorienting fashion. A vision test at school is revelatory: “Do you know,” the nurse asks gently, “that most people see only one?” This small episode, taken from the author’s own experience, is much more than bibliotherapy, even though it covers Ginny’s remedial eye patch (hence the title). In single or double vision, Ginny simply glows. (Picture book. 4-8)