Not quite as riotously entertaining as the previous outing, but it does the job.
Introductions to 13 creatures you (mostly) wouldn’t want on your leg.
In a not-exactly-unexpected follow-up to 2019’s Eek! You Reek! Poems About Animals That Stink, Stank, Stunk, the veteran mother-daughter team works up a series of short animal poems (16, counting one on the rear cover), supplemented by quick nature notes in the backmatter, on an equally crowd-pleasing theme. As the roster includes butterflies, honeybees, elephants, and glancing mention but no picture of unweaned human infants, not all the creatures here will dial the gross-o-meter up to 11—but there are still sufficient suckers and lappers of blood, ranging from fleas and mosquitoes to vampire bats, lampreys, and leeches, to gleefully put anyone off their lunch. The creepiest critter here may well be the erebid moth: “Oh, / tear drinker, / bird’s eye / your / cup. / With your long / proboscis, / you slurp / tears / up!” And if those eyes are dry, the supplementary comment notes, “the moth will scratch its host’s eyes until there is a weepy feast.” Eww. Nobati leaves out the gore but otherwise does her part to crank up the jollity by, for instance, giving many of the comically caricatured creatures on view googly popped eyes, depicting a lamprey bringing its own ketchup to a group suck, and showing a light-skinned human leg in thigh-deep water positively swathed in leeches. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Not quite as riotously entertaining as the previous outing, but it does the job. (glossary, reading list) (Informational picture book/poetry. 6-12)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-72841-566-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Millbrook/Lerner
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
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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