An insightful and informative look at the animal kingdom with high appeal for lovers of nature and science.
A fascinating and accessible exploration of how animals experience the world, adapted for young readers from his bestselling adult original by Pulitzer Prize–winning author Yong.
Even when creatures share the same sense, such as sight or sound, the Umwelt, or “sensory bubble,” they live in may be very different. For instance, where a human hears only silence, another creature may detect sound. Some creatures can see colors in what appears to others to be darkness. Readers may decide that the broad range of how animals sense the same inputs is just as intriguing as the why. Through exploring a variety of types of senses—smell, taste, vision, color, pain, heat, touch, vibration, hearing, echolocation, and electric and magnetic field detection—this book does a bang-up job of giving readers a front-row seat to animal experiences. Well-defined vocabulary appears in “words to remember” sections at the end of chapters, and insights from experts are incorporated throughout. Mills’ gorgeous illustrations, both color and black-and-white, are original to this edition and enhance the appeal and accessibility of the content. Yong reminds readers that reducing sensory pollution by protecting animals’ natural sensory environments—darkness and quiet, especially—is crucial to their well-being and that learning more about animals will help us behave more empathetically.
An insightful and informative look at the animal kingdom with high appeal for lovers of nature and science. (author’s note, photo credits, index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9780593810880
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bright Matter Books
Review Posted Online: today
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
Hot on the heels of the well-received Leonardo da Vinci (2005) comes another agreeably chatty entry in the Giants of Science series. Here the pioneering physicist is revealed as undeniably brilliant, but also cantankerous, mean-spirited, paranoid and possibly depressive. Newton’s youth and annus mirabilis receive respectful treatment, the solitude enforced by family estrangement and then the plague seen as critical to the development of his thoughtful, methodical approach. His subsequent squabbles with the rest of the scientific community—he refrained from publishing one treatise until his rival was dead—further support the image of Newton as a scientific lone wolf. Krull’s colloquial treatment sketches Newton’s advances in clearly understandable terms without bogging the text down with detailed explanations. A final chapter on “His Impact” places him squarely in the pantheon of great thinkers, arguing that both his insistence on the scientific method and his theories of physics have informed all subsequent scientific thought. A bibliography, web site and index round out the volume; the lack of detail on the use of sources is regrettable in an otherwise solid offering for middle-grade students. (Biography. 10-14)
Pub Date: April 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-05921-8
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
This glossy, colorful title in the “I Want To Be” series has visual appeal but poor organization and a fuzzy focus, which limits its usefulness. Each double-paged layout introduces a new topic with six to eight full-color photographs and a single column of text. Topics include types of environmentalists, eco-issues, waste renewal, education, High School of Environmental Studies, environmental vocabulary, history of environmentalism, famous environmentalists, and the return of the eagle. Often the photographs have little to do with the text or are marginal to the topic. For example, a typical layout called “Some Alternative Solutions” has five snapshots superimposed on a double-page photograph of a California wind farm. The text discusses ways to develop alternative forms of energy and “encourage environmentally friendly lifestyles.” Photos include “a healer who treats a patient with alternative therapy using sound and massage,” and “the Castle,” a house built of “used tires and aluminum cans.” Elsewhere, “Did You Know . . . ” shows a dramatic photo of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, but the text provides odd facts such as “ . . . that in Saudi Arabia there are solar-powered pay phones in the desert?” Some sections seem stuck in, a two-page piece on the effects of “El Niño” or 50 postage-stamp–sized photos of endangered species. The author concludes with places to write for more information and a list of photo credits. Pretty, but little here to warrant purchase. (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-15-201862-X
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000
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