Giants of the Ice Age, the woolly mammoths roamed the ice-covered steppes 26,000 years ago, while their lesser-known and larger cousins, the Columbian mammoths, wandered the warmer regions of the southern US and Mexico. Arnold, author of Did You Hear That? (2001) and many other science titles, describes the Elephantidae family tree, including modern-day elephants, mammoths, mastodons, and even dwarf mammoths and discusses fossil remains found in bogs, lakes, and tar pits as well as fully preserved specimens found in the permafrost of Siberia and Alaska. Recent findings are included, too, for instance, the recovering of Jarkov’s mammoth by French explorer Bernard Buigues in 1997 and the recovery of “Baby Dima,” a young woolly mammoth calf discovered by goldminers in Siberia in 1977. From fossil findings, Arnold postulates what the animals looked like and how they lived and died. The text gets technical at times, as when she discusses how radioactive carbon dating works. Or when she explains that the American mastodon is part of a group known as the gomphotheres, and while several different kinds of gomphotheres lived in South America, they were the only proboscideans to have lived on the continent. Watercolor illustrations are most successful in showing animals like the shaggy, woolly mammoth where there are well-preserved models. Reconstructions of animals known only from bones are less convincing. For example, the Columbian mammoth looks like Dumbo with a few prickly hairs stuck on, and the pudgy sabertooth cat seems an unconvincing predator. The picture-book format may appeal to science readers too young to access the text, so there’s something for everyone. (index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)
Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2002
ISBN: 0-618-09633-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven.
An aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects.
Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver; the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. They resolve to find Benji’s dad—a famous comic-book artist—and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. Together, they overcome technical, scheduling, and geographical challenges. Readers will be drawn in by amusing and fantastical elements in the comic book theme, high emotional stakes that arouse sympathy, and well-drawn character development as the protagonists navigate life lessons around grief, patience, self-advocacy, and standing up for others. Ro is biracial (Chinese/White); Benji is White.
Charming, poignant, and thoughtfully woven. (Fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-300888-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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