A little-known female artist receives well-deserved attention.
An artist’s remarkable work brought undersea life to wide public notice.
German immigrant and artist Else Bostelmann (1882-1961) painted life under the ocean while working for renowned marine scientist William Beebe; while taking part in expeditions for the New York Zoological Society (now the Wildlife Conservation Society) in the 1930s, he dove beneath waters off the coast of Bermuda in a bathysphere. Few had investigated the mysterious world under the seas; fewer still had painted it. Else B., as she was known, not only painted the glorious plants and bioluminescent animals found beneath the ocean but, wearing a copper helmet, took her art supplies (steel pencils, zinc plates) underwater with her to record the magical, almost unimaginable world below. The extraordinary images she produced, published in National Geographic magazine during the Depression, were well worth it. The book pays homage to some of Bostelmann’s beautiful, detailed, accurate paintings. Stacey’s conceptualizations of them, rendered in gouache, watercolor, pastel, and colored pencil, are lovely; the backmatter includes reproductions of Else’s art. The works are dazzling and convey how extraordinary undersea life is. The text isn’t quite as captivating, though readers will likely be interested in how Else fared underwater and what she discovered during her explorations. Unfortunately, some terms used in the text are neither defined nor pronounced for readers’ benefit.
A little-known female artist receives well-deserved attention. (author’s note, more information on topics explored in the book, math conversion table, map of Bermuda and environs, photo of Else Bostelmann, selected sources) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781949480283
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Cameron Kids
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
A gleeful game for budding naturalists.
Artfully cropped animal portraits challenge viewers to guess which end they’re seeing.
In what will be a crowd-pleasing and inevitably raucous guessing game, a series of close-up stock photos invite children to call out one of the titular alternatives. A page turn reveals answers and basic facts about each creature backed up by more of the latter in a closing map and table. Some of the posers, like the tail of an okapi or the nose on a proboscis monkey, are easy enough to guess—but the moist nose on a star-nosed mole really does look like an anus, and the false “eyes” on the hind ends of a Cuyaba dwarf frog and a Promethea moth caterpillar will fool many. Better yet, Lavelle saves a kicker for the finale with a glimpse of a small parasitical pearlfish peeking out of a sea cucumber’s rear so that the answer is actually face and butt. “Animal identification can be tricky!” she concludes, noting that many of the features here function as defenses against attack: “In the animal world, sometimes your butt will save your face and your face just might save your butt!” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A gleeful game for budding naturalists. (author’s note) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781728271170
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks eXplore
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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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