A marvelous spark for the imagination and motivation to learn more.
What amazing things could be made from the very tiniest building blocks?
Physicist Wade provides an introduction to the science of new and to-be-discovered materials based on nanotechnology. “Everything is made out of something,” she begins, starting with a general, macro look at the world around us. Materials like paper, wood, metal, cotton, glass have different attributes: “light, heavy, strong, or flexible.” The way that atoms, or elements, are “mixed together” creates the attributes of the resulting material. Carbon, a “very important element” in the human body and “in every living thing,” can be found on its own as graphite, as in the soft substance in a pencil. One layer of carbon atoms makes up a new substance called graphene—“the strongest material known to human beings. If you made a tightrope out of graphene, an elephant could walk along it without breaking it.” Castrillón’s whimsical art is intriguingly paired with the subject matter, incorporating both the explanatory and speculative, using fine lines that seem delicate but are also robust—light but muscular, just like the materials Wade describes. Graphene and other nanomaterials have astonishing applications both current (lighter airplanes, self-washing windows) and potential (sieves that could make ocean water drinkable; nervelike connections that could help blind people see). (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A marvelous spark for the imagination and motivation to learn more. (further information, index) (Informational picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Sept. 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1766-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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
Erupt into applause for this picture book of the first magma-tude.
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
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