Deeply empathetic, brilliantly illustrated, and chock-full of information.
Caldecott Medalist Chin braids together three stories: how hurricanes form, how scientists track their potential impact, and how the people of Cape Hatteras, a barrier island off the North Carolina coast, prepare for landfall.
Suspense builds as the three accounts unfold across two weeks, punctuated by daily weather reports. Readers meet meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, coastal Carolinians discussing what’s to come, and the Hurricane Hunters, “an elite group of scientists and pilots who fly into hurricanes” to gather information. This robust narrative demonstrates how crucial it is for scientists and communities to work together to keep safe during natural disasters. Chin beautifully illustrates the hurricane’s path as if seen from a weather satellite, capturing the blues and whites of Earth’s roiling oceans. Spreads featuring carefully composed, realistic images of active beachgoers interspersed with those of working scientists sometimes include speech bubbles. Chin expertly folds in information on the tropical cyclone wind scale, forecast models, storm surges, how warm water affects hurricanes, and more, accompanied by diagrams. On one wordless page, Chin captures the eye of the storm—an eerily calm, brightly lit neighborhood filled with downed trees and drenched roads. Always attentive to detail, he sketches a recurring stray cat wandering the town, left to survive the evacuation on its own. Characters are diverse.
Deeply empathetic, brilliantly illustrated, and chock-full of information. (information on hurricane science, map, further reading, selected sources, author’s note) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780823458493
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers.
Echoing the meter of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ward uses catchy original rhymes to describe the variety of nests birds create.
Each sweet stanza is complemented by a factual, engaging description of the nesting habits of each bird. Some of the notes are intriguing, such as the fact that the hummingbird uses flexible spider web to construct its cup-shaped nest so the nest will stretch as the chicks grow. An especially endearing nesting behavior is that of the emperor penguin, who, with unbelievable patience, incubates the egg between his tummy and his feet for up to 60 days. The author clearly feels a mission to impart her extensive knowledge of birds and bird behavior to the very young, and she’s found an appealing and attractive way to accomplish this. The simple rhymes on the left page of each spread, written from the young bird’s perspective, will appeal to younger children, and the notes on the right-hand page of each spread provide more complex factual information that will help parents answer further questions and satisfy the curiosity of older children. Jenkins’ accomplished collage illustrations of common bird species—woodpecker, hummingbird, cowbird, emperor penguin, eagle, owl, wren—as well as exotics, such as flamingoes and hornbills, are characteristically naturalistic and accurate in detail.
A good bet for the youngest bird-watchers. (author’s note, further resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 18, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-2116-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2014
A solid, small step for diversifying STEM stories.
What does Annie want to be?
As career day approaches, Annie wants to keep her job choice secret until her family sees her presentation at school. Readers will figure it out, however, through the title and clues Tadgell incorporates into the illustrations. Family members make guesses about her ambitions that are tied to their own passions, although her brother watches as she completes her costume in a bedroom with a Mae Jemison poster, starry décor, and a telescope. There’s a celebratory mood at the culminating presentation, where Annie says she wants to “soar high through the air” like her basketball-playing mother, “explore faraway places” like her hiker dad, and “be brave and bold” like her baker grandmother (this feels forced, but oven mitts are part of her astronaut costume) so “the whole world will hear my exciting stories” like her reporter grandfather. Annie jumps off a chair to “BLAST OFF” in a small illustration superimposed on a larger picture depicting her floating in space with a reddish ground below. It’s unclear if Annie imagines this scene or if it’s her future-self exploring Mars, but either scenario fits the aspirational story. Backmatter provides further reading suggestions and information about the moon and four women astronauts, one of whom is Jemison. Annie and her family are all black.
A solid, small step for diversifying STEM stories. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-88448-523-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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