How does the fossil of an ocean fish end up on a mountaintop? This question, posed only on the jacket flap, is answered by this simplified description of basic geological processes, introducing plate tectonics, mountain building, erosion and the formation of sedimentary rocks and making the point that mountains don’t last forever. The smooth text is broken up into short phrases and vocabulary is defined in context, but the intended audience will struggle with words like “sedimentary” and “tectonic.” Harrison concludes with an author’s note directed at an older reader whose help may well be needed. Clean and colorful, the stylized illustrations give an almost three-dimensional look to each double-page spread. They support and amplify the text, except for the page showing men riding horses on a dry Western landscape while the words describe people hiking and fishing in the woods (as shown on the cover). Like others in the Earthworks series, suggestions for further reading are similar topic books; there is no glossary or index. An attractive introduction. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-59078-326-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Boyds Mills
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2005
Sloat collaborates with Huffman, a Yu’pik storyteller, to infuse a traditional “origins” tale with the joy of creating. Hearing the old women of her village grumble that they have only tasteless crowberries for the fall feast’s akutaq—described as “Eskimo ice cream,” though the recipe at the end includes mixing in shredded fish and lard—young Anana carefully fashions three dolls, then sings and dances them to life. Away they bound, to cover the hills with cranberries, blueberries, and salmonberries. Sloat dresses her smiling figures in mixes of furs and brightly patterned garb, and sends them tumbling exuberantly through grassy tundra scenes as wildlife large and small gathers to look on. Despite obtrusively inserted pronunciations for Yu’pik words in the text, young readers will be captivated by the action, and by Anana’s infectious delight. (Picture book/folktale. 6-8)
Pub Date: June 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-88240-575-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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