Fresh, lively, funny, and very, very informative.
Insects: the why, what, where, and how.
Nearly every page of this volume has a fabulous fact or story to relate. The tone is informatively jocular, with a waggishness sure to appeal to middle-grade readers but content sophisticated enough to intrigue and educate teens. In addition to relaying scientific information on fascinating insect behavior (fire beetles lay their eggs in the midst of forest fires) and physiology (a cockroach can live without its head for 168 hours), the author relays her own insect adventures. She gleefully embarks on an experiment to observe Madagascar hissing cockroaches—a bit of curiosity that gets out of hand—and shares her phobia of grasshoppers, thereby tacitly giving readers permission to be skeeved out by insects while still being interested in them. As entertaining as these stories are, scientific research is the foundation of this superb book. It explores insects’ vital role as pollinators, describes their potential as human food, hilariously relates their important role in decomposing dead things, and much more. The examination of the human-caused sixth extinction (as well as a bit about the previous five) and what that means for insects and people strikes a more somber note. Occasional sprinkles of appealing, anthropomorphic, black-and-white insect illustrations add fun visual interest and will encourage readers to look up photos to receive the full effect.
Fresh, lively, funny, and very, very informative. (reading list, works cited, index) (Nonfiction. 10-18)Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-80103-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
Wordplay and wry wit put extra fun into a trove of fundamental knowledge.
With an amped-up sense of wonder, the Science Guy surveys the natural universe.
Starting from first principles like the scientific method, Nye and his co-author marvel at the “Amazing Machine” that is the human body then go on to talk up animals, plants, evolution, physics and chemistry, the quantum realm, geophysics, and climate change. They next venture out into the solar system and beyond. Along with tallying select aspects and discoveries in each chapter, the authors gather up “Massively Important” central concepts, send shoutouts to underrecognized women scientists like oceanographer Marie Tharp, and slip in directions for homespun experiments and demonstrations. They also challenge readers to ponder still-unsolved scientific posers and intersperse rousing quotes from working scientists about how exciting and wide open their respective fields are. If a few of those fields, like the fungal kingdom, get short shrift (one spare paragraph notwithstanding), readers are urged often enough to go look things up for themselves to kindle a compensatory habit. Aside from posed photos of Nye and a few more of children (mostly presenting as White) doing science-y things, the full-color graphic and photographic images not only reflect the overall “get this!” tone but consistently enrich the flow of facts and reflections. “Our universe is a strange and surprising place,” Nye writes. “Stay curious.” Words to live by.
Wordplay and wry wit put extra fun into a trove of fundamental knowledge. (contributors, art credits, selected bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 11-15)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4676-5
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
The author of Cod (1997) successfully provides readers with a frightening look at the looming destruction of the oceans. Brief sections in graphic-novel format follow a young girl, Ailat, and her father over a couple of decades as the condition of the ocean grows increasingly dire, eventually an orange, slimy mess mostly occupied by jellyfish and leatherback turtles. At the end, Ailat’s young daughter doesn’t even know what the word fish means. This is juxtaposed against nonfiction chapters with topics including types of fishing equipment and the damage each causes, a history of the destruction of the cod and its consequences, the international politics of the fishing industry and the effects of pollution and global warming. The final chapter lists of some actions readers could take to attempt to reverse the damage: not eating certain types of fish, joining environmental groups, writing to government officials, picketing seafood stores that sell endangered fish, etc. Whenever an important point is to be made, font size increases dramatically, sometimes so that a single sentence fills a page—attention-getting but distractingly so. While it abounds with information, sadly, no sources are cited, undermining reliability. Additionally, there are no index and no recommended bibliography for further research, diminishing this effort’s value as a resource. Depressing and scary yet grimly entertaining. (Nonfiction/graphic-novel hybrid. 10 & up)
Pub Date: April 18, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7611-5607-9
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011
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