A lively presentation of an unusual subject, a hidden and little-known part of our natural world.
The ocean teems with microscopic organisms that develop and transform through metamorphosis into more-familiar creatures such as crabs, giant clams, slipper lobsters, and jellies.
After introducing her six monsters—trochophores, veligers, planulae, phyllosomae, zoeae, and gnathiid pranizae—science writer Montgomery goes on chapter by chapter to define the general concept of metamorphosis, show how larvae and adults have different foods and lead different lives, explain how and why larvae move around, describe the different kinds of help mothers provide, offer examples of what controls these developmental changes, and share some of the many mysteries that remain about the process. A breezy, chatty text addresses readers directly using informal terms such as “tippy top” and “cowabunga!”—as well as numerous exclamation points. It’s broken up with headings, boxes, and colorful photographs, making this unfamiliar topic more accessible. Since the likely audience is old enough to know how to use an index or a glossary, it is unfortunate that the ones provided are so limited. There is “one sweet little chart” that will help enormously, showing the names of all creatures mentioned as larvae, in additional stages, and as adults. Readers who already know about tadpoles and frogs, caterpillars and butterflies on land will be intrigued to discover a similar process in the ocean.
A lively presentation of an unusual subject, a hidden and little-known part of our natural world. (author’s note, life stages, bibliography) (Nonfiction. 10-15)Pub Date: April 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5415-2898-7
Page Count: 60
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
Wordplay and wry wit put extra fun into a trove of fundamental knowledge.
With an amped-up sense of wonder, the Science Guy surveys the natural universe.
Starting from first principles like the scientific method, Nye and his co-author marvel at the “Amazing Machine” that is the human body then go on to talk up animals, plants, evolution, physics and chemistry, the quantum realm, geophysics, and climate change. They next venture out into the solar system and beyond. Along with tallying select aspects and discoveries in each chapter, the authors gather up “Massively Important” central concepts, send shoutouts to underrecognized women scientists like oceanographer Marie Tharp, and slip in directions for homespun experiments and demonstrations. They also challenge readers to ponder still-unsolved scientific posers and intersperse rousing quotes from working scientists about how exciting and wide open their respective fields are. If a few of those fields, like the fungal kingdom, get short shrift (one spare paragraph notwithstanding), readers are urged often enough to go look things up for themselves to kindle a compensatory habit. Aside from posed photos of Nye and a few more of children (mostly presenting as White) doing science-y things, the full-color graphic and photographic images not only reflect the overall “get this!” tone but consistently enrich the flow of facts and reflections. “Our universe is a strange and surprising place,” Nye writes. “Stay curious.” Words to live by.
Wordplay and wry wit put extra fun into a trove of fundamental knowledge. (contributors, art credits, selected bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 11-15)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4676-5
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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
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