Well-deserved recognition for a migratory avian superstar.
Hevron traces an Arctic tern’s annual 60,000-mile round trip from Greenland to Antarctica and back.
Marking the route with dotted lines on simplified maps, the author depicts and describes her young bird’s wandering flight, which she bills as the longest of any animal, and imagined but likely experiences along the way—pausing for a rest in Tenerife, winging over flamingos in Liberia, following a “raft” of macaroni penguins to the Crozet Islands—to an Antarctic summer on pack ice in the Weddell Sea and then back, riding prevailing winds northward. Aside from one stylized glimpse of a ship in heavy seas, there is no visible sign of human activity, but Hevron does mention twice that the ocean waters from which the tern snatches krill and other food are “ever-warming,” then notes in the backmatter how rising temperatures drive those sources of nourishment to less accessible depths and also lead to seasonal storms severe enough to endanger nesting grounds. The backmatter also includes more information about this bird’s life cycle (Arctic terns can live for 30 years and so “fly the equivalent of three times to the Moon and back”) and generous lists of resources for further information.(This book was reviewed digitally.)
Well-deserved recognition for a migratory avian superstar. (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4700-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lighthearted first look at an increasingly useful skill.
Grown-ups may not be the only audience for this simple explanation of how algorithms work.
Taking a confused-looking hipster parent firmly in hand, a child first points to all the computers around the house (“Pro Tip: When dealing with grown-ups, don’t jump into the complicated stuff too fast. Start with something they already know”). Next, the child leads the adult outside to make and follow step-by-step directions for getting to the park, deciding which playground equipment to use, and finally walking home. Along the way, concepts like conditionals and variables come into play in street maps and diagrams, and a literal bug stands in for the sort that programmers will inevitably need to find and solve. The lesson culminates in an actual sample of very simple code with labels that unpack each instruction…plus a pop quiz to lay out a decision tree for crossing the street, because if “your grown-up can explain it, that shows they understand it!” That goes for kids, too—and though Spiro doesn’t take the logical next step and furnish leads to actual manuals, young (and not so young) fledgling coders will find plenty of good ones around, such as Get Coding! (2017), published by Candlewick, or Rachel Ziter’s Coding From Scratch (2018).
A lighthearted first look at an increasingly useful skill. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9781623543181
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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