A remarkably uplifting tale of tenacity and determination.
An unlikely adventurer proves it’s never too late to pursue one’s passions.
Having worked for 55 years as a nurse, Barbara Hillary (1931-2021) decided to make her dreams of travel and adventure come true. Growing up poor in Harlem, she loved reading about explorers, though as a Black woman, she rarely encountered explorers who looked like her—except for Matthew Henson, the first African American man to reach the North Pole. Inspired, she resolved to become the first Black woman to achieve that feat. Despite her age and health issues (a bout with cancer had left her lungs operating at only 75% capacity), Barbara attained her goal, which only made her hungry for more. She made history again when she traveled to the South Pole. Her experiences traveling both to the poles and elsewhere brought her face to face with evidence of climate change, and she began speaking out about small but doable ways to preserve the places she had visited. Blumenthal laces her upbeat text with personal details—like Barbara getting frostbite after enthusiastically yanking off her gloves for a photo-op—that make for an intimate portrait. Williams’ digital illustrations feature both snowy, wide-open vistas and close-ups of Barbara striking triumphant poses as she succeeds again and again.
A remarkably uplifting tale of tenacity and determination. (author’s note) (Picture-book biography. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9781665927734
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
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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