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ANIMALS

THE ILLUSTRATED GEOGRAPHY OF OUR WORLD

Less an animal atlas than a companion to one—but provides decent if scattershot exposure to select fundamentals.

A barrage of basic facts about animals and their habitats in charts and infographics.

As the single-topic pages and spreads are arranged in no discernible order and such niceties as a table of contents and index are dispensed with, this patchwork survey will reward random browsing more than focused enquiry. The book opens with vertical profiles of six biomes and closes with a cautionary closing appeal that charts declining animal populations using large, dramatic arrows. Between these, readers will receive at least exposure to the ideas of food pyramids and indigenous species, animal record holders (“Fastest shark!” “Fastest bird that cannot fly!”), migration, adaptation, typical life spans, and a handful of other topics. Barker depicts a generous quantity of small, stylized, but easily recognizable fauna from, usually, side or head-on angles. Nearly every creature comes with an identifying label. Martineau’s commentary tends toward the stacatto: “The Greenland shark is OVOVIVIPAROUS…eggs hatch INSIDE the mother shark and then the baby sharks are born…10 pups [with image] might live up to 400 YEARS!” Aside from occasional silhouettes, the only human figures are two children, one light skinned, the other darker, decorating a continuing set of side boxes highlighting careers in biology.

Less an animal atlas than a companion to one—but provides decent if scattershot exposure to select fundamentals. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-9)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-63158-490-9

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Racehorse for Young Readers

Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019

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BUTT OR FACE?

A gleeful game for budding naturalists.

Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.

In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: July 11, 2023

ISBN: 9781728271170

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore

Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023

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I AM GRAVITY

An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe.

An introduction to gravity.

The book opens with the most iconic demonstration of gravity, an apple falling. Throughout, Herz tackles both huge concepts—how gravity compresses atoms to form stars and how black holes pull all kinds of matter toward them—and more concrete ones: how gravity allows you to jump up and then come back down to the ground. Gravity narrates in spare yet lyrical verse, explaining how it creates planets and compresses atoms and comparing itself to a hug. “My embrace is tight enough that you don’t float like a balloon, but loose enough that you can run and leap and play.” Gravity personifies itself at times: “I am stubborn—the bigger things are, the harder I pull.” Beautiful illustrations depict swirling planets and black holes alongside racially diverse children playing, running, and jumping, all thanks to gravity. Thorough backmatter discusses how Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity and explains Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. While at times Herz’s explanations may be a bit too technical for some readers, burgeoning scientists will be drawn in.

An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe. (Informational picture book. 7-9)

Pub Date: April 15, 2024

ISBN: 9781668936849

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Tilbury House

Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024

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