A rushed but understandably urgent call to action.
A quick tribute to a young eco-activist unafraid to speak her mind to power.
In this wide-margined, generously leaded profile translated from the Italian, Thunberg’s throw-down-the-gauntlet style comes through clearly—both in the challenging stare she directs at readers from Carratello’s cover and interior illustrations and in the distinctively tart quotes within: “Adults keep saying that they must give young people hope. I don’t want hope, I want you to panic, to take action.” Though her visibility on the world stage only dates from her sit-down strike in front of Stockholm’s parliament building in August 2018 and her story is only carried to March 2019 here (and so cuts off before her August arrival in the U.S.), Camerini works from published interviews and articles to fill in the origins of her concern over the lack of effective action to counter climate change, her Asperger’s diagnosis, and the significant supporting roles her parents have played. The author’s habit of referring to her subject as a teenager “with braids” strikes a faintly condescending note, but Thunberg is plainly a force of nature, and considering that her grassroots “Fridays for Future” campaign has already sparked thousands of student strikes and other demonstrations, her message is plainly hitting a nerve. Thunberg is white, but she stands with or addresses ethnically diverse groups in the grayscale illustrations. A comparison to Rosa Parks strikes a discordant note.
A rushed but understandably urgent call to action. (glossary, pollution timeline, suggestion list, recommended sources) (Biography. 8-10)Pub Date: Nov. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6877-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts.
From a Caldecott and Sibert honoree, an invitation to take a mind-expanding journey from the surface of our planet to the furthest reaches of the observable cosmos.
Though Chin’s assumption that we are even capable of understanding the scope of the universe is quixotic at best, he does effectively lead viewers on a journey that captures a sense of its scale. Following the model of Kees Boeke’s classic Cosmic View: The Universe in Forty Jumps (1957), he starts with four 8-year-old sky watchers of average height (and different racial presentations). They peer into a telescope and then are comically startled by the sudden arrival of an ostrich that is twice as tall…and then a giraffe that is over twice as tall as that…and going onward and upward, with ellipses at each page turn connecting the stages, past our atmosphere and solar system to the cosmic web of galactic superclusters. As he goes, precisely drawn earthly figures and features in the expansive illustrations give way to ever smaller celestial bodies and finally to glimmering swirls of distant lights against gulfs of deep black before ultimately returning to his starting place. A closing recap adds smaller images and additional details. Accompanying the spare narrative, valuable side notes supply specific lengths or distances and define their units of measure, accurately explain astronomical phenomena, and close with the provocative observation that “the observable universe is centered on us, but we are not in the center of the entire universe.”
A stimulating outing to the furthest reaches of our knowledge, certain to inspire deep thoughts. (afterword, websites, further reading) (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4623-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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