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HOW TO EAT IN SPACE

Name: HOW TO EAT IN SPACE
Author: Helen Taylor
ISBN: 9780316367745

by Helen Taylor ; illustrated by Stevie Lewis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 31, 2023

An appetizing guide to space-station dining.

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Today’s astronauts have way more culinary options than Tang and freeze-dried fare.

Drawing from the experiences of astronauts at the International Space Station, Taylor addresses readers directly, as if they, too, were traveling in space. She describes the challenges of this environment (no grocery store, no kitchen, and no gravity). But, she makes clear, there will be many different kinds of food to choose from, including favorites from the astronauts’ home countries. Taylor explains how to prepare the food and cope with the difficulties of eating. The process can be slow, and food may not seem as tasty, so readers might want hot sauce. Surprise treats may arrive on rockets sent from Earth. Astronauts can even grow some vegetables (saving some for research, of course). Water is carefully rationed and recycled over and over. Proper disposal of trash is vital. Digital artwork—as well as a final page with photographs of actual astronauts—shows diverse people preparing, eating, and cleaning up after their meals. These entertaining illustrations, both vignettes and full-page spreads, accompany short paragraphs. Although the text is presented as a list of instructions, the inviting, conversational tone will engage young readers, and the variety of foods on the menu today—from kimchi to curried pumpkin soup—may surprise them. More information, for more able readers, appears in the extensive backmatter.

An appetizing guide to space-station dining. (resources, selected sources) (Informational picture book. 4-9)

Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2023

ISBN: 9780316367745

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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VOLCANOES

by Gail Gibbons ; illustrated by Gail Gibbons ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 4, 2022

Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude.

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A deceptively simple, visually appealing, comprehensive explanation of volcanoes.

Gibbons packs an impressive number of facts into this browsable nonfiction picture book. The text begins with the awe of a volcanic eruption: “The ground begins to rumble…ash, hot lava and rock, and gases shoot up into the air.” Diagrams of the Earth’s structural layers—inner and outer core, mantle, and crust—undergird a discussion about why volcanoes occur. Simple maps of the Earth’s seven major tectonic plates show where volcanoes are likeliest to develop. Other spreads with bright, clearly labeled illustrations cover intriguing subtopics: four types of volcanoes and how they erupt; underwater volcanoes; well-known volcanoes and historic volcanic eruptions around the world; how to be safe in the vicinity of a volcano; and the work of scientists studying volcanoes and helping to predict eruptions. A page of eight facts about volcanoes wraps things up. The straightforward, concise prose will be easy for young readers to follow. As always, Gibbons manages to present a great deal of information in a compact form.

Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude. (Nonfiction picture book. 4-9)

Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-8234-4569-1

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Holiday House

Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
MIGRATION
by Gail Gibbons ; illustrated by Gail Gibbons

- BOOK REVIEW
FLOWERS
by Gail Gibbons ; illustrated by Gail Gibbons

- BOOK REVIEW
DINOSAUR DISCOVERIES
by Gail Gibbons ; illustrated by Gail Gibbons

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ANIMAL ARCHITECTS

From the Amazing Animals series

by Amy Cherrix ; illustrated by Chris Sasaki ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 7, 2021

An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort.

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A look at the unique ways that 11 globe-spanning animal species construct their homes.

Each creature garners two double-page spreads, which Cherrix enlivens with compelling and at-times jaw-dropping facts. The trapdoor spider constructs a hidden burrow door from spider silk. Sticky threads, fanning from the entrance, vibrate “like a silent doorbell” when walked upon by unwitting insect prey. Prairie dogs expertly dig communal burrows with designated chambers for “sleeping, eating, and pooping.” The largest recorded “town” occupied “25,000 miles and housed as many as 400 million prairie dogs!” Female ants are “industrious insects” who can remove more than a ton of dirt from their colony in a year. Cathedral termites use dirt and saliva to construct solar-cooled towers 30 feet high. Sasaki’s lively pictures borrow stylistically from the animal compendiums of mid-20th-century children’s lit; endpapers and display type elegantly suggest the blues of cyanotypes and architectural blueprints. Jarringly, the lead spread cheerfully extols the prowess of the corals of the Great Barrier Reef, “the world’s largest living structure,” while ignoring its accelerating, human-abetted destruction. Calamitously, the honeybee hive is incorrectly depicted as a paper-wasps’ nest, and the text falsely states that chewed beeswax “hardens into glue to shape the hive.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

An arguable error of omission and definite errors of commission sink this otherwise attractive effort. (selected sources) (Informational picture book. 5-8)