Families who believe in faith and science will thrill in the fizzy fun of Fizzlebop.
Author Eastman’s alter ego, Dr. Fizzlebop, takes on kid- and family-friendly science education.
Fizzlebop Labs presents 52 activities inspired by Scripture, one for each week of the year, along with five bonus activities for holidays. Though promoted as such on the cover, for the most part these are not true science experiments: There are no control groups nor hypotheses to be proved. Rather, they are science-appreciation activities intended to encourage the kinds of observational skills that scientists use in their work. The 52 activity guides begin at the beginning with the Creation story out of Genesis and follow on, more or less in order, through the books in the Western Christian Bible, both Old Testament and New. Each is explicitly tied to a verse or verses and includes a list of supplies, the activity’s steps, a related fact, an explanation of the principle at work, a devotional, and a prayer. An activity about density, for instance, is tied to Matthew 14:22-33, when Jesus walks on water. This setup makes it ideal for a weekly family or Sunday school lesson with built-in activity. The activities are not unique nor especially novel—most have appeared in other children’s science books many times over—but the scriptural tie-in, devotional stories, and discussion questions create a unique combo sure to appeal to families of faith and Christian educators.
Families who believe in faith and science will thrill in the fizzy fun of Fizzlebop. (glossary) (Nonfiction. 4-10)Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4964-5816-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Tyndale Kids
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude.
A deceptively simple, visually appealing, comprehensive explanation of volcanoes.
Gibbons packs an impressive number of facts into this browsable nonfiction picture book. The text begins with the awe of a volcanic eruption: “The ground begins to rumble…ash, hot lava and rock, and gases shoot up into the air.” Diagrams of the Earth’s structural layers—inner and outer core, mantle, and crust—undergird a discussion about why volcanoes occur. Simple maps of the Earth’s seven major tectonic plates show where volcanoes are likeliest to develop. Other spreads with bright, clearly labeled illustrations cover intriguing subtopics: four types of volcanoes and how they erupt; underwater volcanoes; well-known volcanoes and historic volcanic eruptions around the world; how to be safe in the vicinity of a volcano; and the work of scientists studying volcanoes and helping to predict eruptions. A page of eight facts about volcanoes wraps things up. The straightforward, concise prose will be easy for young readers to follow. As always, Gibbons manages to present a great deal of information in a compact form.
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude. (Nonfiction picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4569-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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