The author’s evident enthusiasm for his subject provides plenty of revs, but the road’s so rocky that his audience(s) will...
A high school chemistry teacher takes a quick spin past the periodic table of elements, but he’s not going to entice many passengers to come along for the ride.
Not to say he doesn’t try. With the same insouciance that lit up his text for Basher’s Periodic Table: Elements with Style! (2010)—but also covering some of the same territory—Dingle highlights the central roles elements play in nature (“I’m Gonna Make You a Star”), technology (“Fun with Fireworks!”) and our daily lives (“The Chemistry of Fizz-ics”). After opening with the full table and an explanation of its organization, though, he goes on to cover only a select few elements in any detail in the following single-topic spreads. Furthermore, teenage readers will likely find the breezy tone and loud colors babyish, but younger ones will bog down in the author’s relatively knotty explanations of molecular structure and bonding, formulas describing chemical changes, and specialized terminology that is briefly defined in context but not included in either the glossary or index. Moreover, he plays fast and loose with his facts—pine cones are not “tree seeds,” magnetic compasses do not point “due north,” carbon dioxide is not found just in certain layers of the atmosphere, and stridently claiming that glass is not a liquid isn’t the same as proving it.
The author’s evident enthusiasm for his subject provides plenty of revs, but the road’s so rocky that his audience(s) will bail. (bibliography) (Nonfiction. 11-14)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-77147-008-7
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Owlkids Books
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
In this abridged and illustrated version of his Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), Bryson invites a younger crowd of seekers on a tour of time, space and science—from the Big Bang and the birth of the solar system to the growth and study of life on Earth. The single-topic spreads are adorned with cartoon portraits of scientists, explorers and (frequently) the author himself, which go with small nature photos and the occasional chart or cutaway view. Though occasionally subject to sweeping and dubious statements—“There’s no chance we could ever make a journey through the solar system”—Bryson makes a genial guide (“for you to be here now, trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to come together in a complicated and obliging manner to create you”), and readers with even a flicker of curiosity in their souls about Big Ideas will come away sharing his wonder at living in such a “fickle and eventful universe.” (index) (Nonfiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-385-73810-1
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009
Miranda’s book counts the monsters gathering at a birthday party, while a simple rhyming text keeps the tally and surveys the action: “Seven starved monsters are licking the dishes./Eight blow out candles and make birthday wishes.” The counting proceeds to ten, then by tens to fifty, then gradually returns to one, which makes the monster’s mother, a purple pin-headed octopus, very happy. The book is surprisingly effective due to Powell’s artwork; the color has texture and density, as if it were poured onto the page, but the real attention-getter is the singularity of every monster attendee. They are highly individual and, therefore, eminently countable. As the numbers start crawling upward, it is both fun and a challenge to try to recognize monsters who have appeared in previous pages, or to attempt to stay focused when counting the swirling or bunched creatures. The story has glints of humor, and in combination with the illustrations is a grand addition to the counting shelf. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201835-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
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