Definitely a case of fools rushing in, made all the funnier by its scary bits.
Two amateur explorers become stranded on a newly formed volcanic island when the fishing boat that drops them off fails to come back.
“Iceland,” the author writes, “is a small and beautiful island in the middle of nowhere” with plenty of volcanoes—including one dubbed Surtsey, newly emerged from the sea, that his grandfather and a friend one day impulsively think would be a noteworthy place to visit and photograph. And so it turns out to be despite the ground’s boot-melting heat and a total lack of food or fresh water, which become issues when their return ride fails to show up. Still, when the night turns cold, sleeping next to a volcano is a perfect idea for keeping warm, right? (“It really isn’t.”) A day and a night later, the weary explorers reach the top of a hill…and find a friendly, dark-skinned man from America waiting with a helicopter to take them back to the mainland! How’s that for wishes come true? Using a storyteller’s tricks as well as tone, Benediktsson swears there’s only one thing in his yarn that isn’t true…and that, he waits to the end to reveal, was the color of his forbear’s melty footwear. Wilson sets the hapless, light-skinned duo in a forbiddingly rocky landscape depicted in lurid hues and lines that wriggle and flow in suggestively molten ways, where lava dances “like some fire red northern lights.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Definitely a case of fools rushing in, made all the funnier by its scary bits. (maps; information on Iceland, Surtsey, and gods of Norse mythology; author’s and illustrator’s notes) (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9781646869916
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Models attention to detail and deductive reasoning in a fun beach setting, complete with interesting facts.
Beachcombers and shell seekers, gather ’round and meet Shelby and Watts, Planetary Investigators.
When Fred the hermit crab can’t find a new, larger shell to move into, he seeks out the “brilliant brains” of Shelby and Watts. Shelby, a fox, is the detective in the duo, and Watts, a badger, loves facts, adding simple fun ones—about hermit crabs, tides, tide-pool dwellers, how shells are used, etc.—throughout the story. Watts also loves to catalog clues in his notebook. In fact, the first mystery that Shelby solves is that of Watts’ lost notebook. Young readers can watch Shelby investigate, solve, and explain her deductive process, all while learning to carefully examine all the details in each graphic panel. Once the missing shells are found, it’s “time for the hermit crab shuffle,” in which the members of a colony of hermit crabs all line up and trade up to larger homes. Final pages include “Earth-Saving Tips from Shelby & Watts,” such as taking pictures of shells instead of collecting them, eating seafood from sustainable sources, and cleaning up the beach. The seven chapters are of varying length, but with several one-panel pages and many pages with low word count, the book is shorter than it appears, which should be a confidence boost for young readers. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Models attention to detail and deductive reasoning in a fun beach setting, complete with interesting facts. (Graphic early reader/mystery. 6-9)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-20531-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
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