A positive and fun-filled challenge to recognize and apply the underlying principles of science in everyday life.
Furry-tailed but not furry-headed, brother and sister Newton and Curie set out to conquer their world with science.
A nearby school for humans provides all the impetus needed to discover what makes everything work. From comprehending the amazing combo of force, mass, and gravity required for playground swings to the secrets of seesaws and pulleys, the intrepid experimenters can’t get enough. They test ideas using trial and error to refine their science projects. The children’s teacher, a woman of color, introduces diagrams of simple machines to a diverse group of grade school children. The information is not lost on the spying squirrel siblings, who apply the principles to return a fallen nest of four (miraculously intact) robins’ eggs to their relieved parents’ tree. How do birds defy gravity when flying? Newton and Currie can’t wait to find out! Kirk’s simple STEAM-driven text seamlessly leads readers from one tenet of physics to another as it’s applied to common objects. Kirk’s use of the schoolroom whiteboard to educate the squirrels is a clever visual aid. The anthropomorphic characters’ clothing reflects the casual dress of the students, and the bright palette is a perfect attention-getter for the story’s targeted audience. Repeated images of simple machines cover the endpapers, and the backmatter includes an introduction to some basic laws of physics, a detailed glossary, and links to science websites. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.5-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)
A positive and fun-filled challenge to recognize and apply the underlying principles of science in everyday life. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3748-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader!
Fun with friends makes for a great day.
Norbit, a salmon-colored worm with a pink kerchief, joyfully greets the day and everyone he encounters. “Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” He and his menagerie of forest pals—including the sun, who grows limbs and descends from the sky—exuberantly engage in various forms of physical activity such as jumping, going down a slide, spinning around, and watching the clouds go by. Young readers will readily relate, as these are games that most children are familiar with. As day turns to night, Norbit says farewell to Sun and welcomes Moon with an invitation to continue the fun. Watkins has created a vivid world of movement and merriment. Her illustrations feature bright bursts of color that match the energy of the text, with most sentences ending in an exclamation point. The author/illustrator incorporates many elements that make for an ideal early-reading experience (despite the use of a contraction or two): art free from clutter, text consisting of words with only one or two syllables, and repetition and recurring bits, such as a continued game of hide-and-seek with Sun. Inspired by never-before-seen sketches from the Dr. Seuss Collection archives at the University of California San Diego, this is the first title for Seuss Studios, a new imprint for original stories from “emerging authors and illustrators” who “honor Seuss’s hallmark spirit of creativity and imagination.”
Say hello to a relatable and rewarding early reader! (author's note) (Early reader. 5-8)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780593646212
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Seuss Studios
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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