Unvarnished infotainment for sharp-eyed Where’s Waldo fans.
With roofs and walls cut away, medieval castles and related settings teem with tiny figures to spy out and on.
Packaged with a 3x magnifying glass that younger eyes, at least, probably won’t need, this companion to Egypt Magnified (2018) offers panoramic views of gore-free battles, sieges, and jousts along with feasts, festivals, and bustling markets—all aboil with hundreds of light-skinned microscopic figures. With a few exceptions, most notably a Syrian castle and a Polish one, the presentation is quite Anglocentric. Aside from Windsor Castle, seen under construction, and a cutaway billed as “like Carrickfergus” in Northern Ireland (a particular highlight, being riddled with dungeons and alive with prisoners escaping or being nondisturbingly tortured), the structures are generic and depicted without much regard for realistic architecture or perspective. The accompanying commentary likewise seldom goes beyond generic descriptions of knightly training, references to distinctive occupations (the “gong farmer” was responsible for cleaning castle “lavatories”), or such patronizing observations as “many people believed prayers could work like magic spells.” There is a key at the end for the dozens of specific items or people viewers are urged to locate throughout; it joins a picture gallery of renowned knights to cap an amiable, if far from authoritative, seek-and-find ramble.
Unvarnished infotainment for sharp-eyed Where’s Waldo fans. (glossary, timeline) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-78603-325-3
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Wide Eyed Editions
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe.
An introduction to gravity.
The book opens with the most iconic demonstration of gravity, an apple falling. Throughout, Herz tackles both huge concepts—how gravity compresses atoms to form stars and how black holes pull all kinds of matter toward them—and more concrete ones: how gravity allows you to jump up and then come back down to the ground. Gravity narrates in spare yet lyrical verse, explaining how it creates planets and compresses atoms and comparing itself to a hug. “My embrace is tight enough that you don’t float like a balloon, but loose enough that you can run and leap and play.” Gravity personifies itself at times: “I am stubborn—the bigger things are, the harder I pull.” Beautiful illustrations depict swirling planets and black holes alongside racially diverse children playing, running, and jumping, all thanks to gravity. Thorough backmatter discusses how Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity and explains Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. While at times Herz’s explanations may be a bit too technical for some readers, burgeoning scientists will be drawn in.
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe. (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: April 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668936849
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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