Handsome illustrations almost rescue this incoherent tour of the night sky. Heine opens with a set of not-always-felicitous verses—“I’ll spin like a pinwheel / Through the Milky Way’s froth, / Take a ride on the Great Bear / And never fall off”—that bounce the narrator at random from Orion to Earth, then closes with two spreads on the stars and planets that offer such confusing tidbits as: “The methane in [Uranus’s] atmosphere absorbs red light, giving it its green-blue color.” Using a rich palette and flowing lines over starry, airbrushed backgrounds, Tavares places two delighted young explorers in brightly patterned garb soaring atop a celestial bear, flinging a planet like a Frisbee, waving wands or streamers and sailing over elegantly undulant landscapes. The result is a visual treat—but budding stargazers will get a clearer idea of what they’re actually looking at from the likes of Mike Goldsmith’s Solar System (2002) and Jane Ann Peddicord’s Night Wonders (2005). (Picture book/nonfiction. 7-9)
Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 1-905236-36-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2006
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Using science and technology, third-grader Ada Lace kicks off her new series by solving a mystery even with her leg in a cast.
Temporarily housebound after a badly executed bungee jump, Ada uses binoculars to document the ecosystem of her new neighborhood in San Francisco. She records her observations in a field journal, a project that intrigues new friend Nina, who lives nearby. When they see that Ms. Reed’s dog, Marguerite, is missing, they leap to the conclusion that it has been stolen. Nina does the legwork and Ada provides the technology for their search for the dognapper. Story-crafting takes a back seat to scene-setting in this series kickoff that introduces the major players. As part of the series formula, science topics and gadgetry are integrated into the stories and further explained in a “Behind the Science” afterword. This installment incorporates drones, a wireless camera, gecko gloves, and the Turing test as well as the concept of an ecosystem. There are no ethnic indicators in the text, but the illustrations reveal that Ada, her family, and bratty neighbor Milton are white; Nina appears to be Southeast Asian; and Mr. Peebles, an inventor who lives nearby, is black.
The story feels a bit contrived, but Ada will be a welcome addition to the small circle of science-loving girls in the chapter-book world. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8599-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES
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Flaps and pull-tabs in assorted astro-scenes reveal several wonders of the universe as well as inside glimpses of observatories, rockets, a space suit, and the International Space Station.
Interactive features include a spinnable Milky Way, pop-up launches of Ariane and Soyuz rockets, a solar-system tour, visits to the surfaces of the moon and Mars, and cutaway views beneath long, thin flaps of an international array of launch vehicles. Despite these bells and whistles, this import is far from ready for liftoff. Not only has Antarctica somehow gone missing from the pop-up globe, but Baumann’s commentary (at least in Booker’s translation from the French original) shows more enthusiasm than strict attention to accuracy. Both Mercury and Venus are designated “hottest planet” (right answer: Venus); claims that there is no gravity in space and that black holes are a type of star are at best simplistic; and “we do not know what [other galaxies] actually look like” is nonsensical. Moreover, in a clumsy attempt to diversify the cast on a spread about astronaut training, Latyk gives an (evidently) Asian figure caricatured slit eyes and yellow skin.
A launch-pad fizzle. (Informational pop-up picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 979-1-02760-197-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
Categories: CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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