A reminder not only of nature’s delicate beauty, but also of its fragility.
A girl forms an intimate friendship with an Icelandic natural wonder.
On the day she’s born, Angela’s father introduces her to Snæfellsjökull, an enormous glacier visible from Reykjavik. Before Angela can walk, they hike there, daughter atop Dad’s back. Her father teaches her to say the glacier’s name using the rhythm that their footfalls tap out: “SNÆ (left foot) FELLS (right foot) JÖ (left foot) KULL (right foot).” (The title page offers pronunciation guidance.) As Angela grows, she makes solo treks and listens, with her whole body, to the glacier’s colors, sounds, and temperature. Angela also lets the glacier listen to her as she confides secrets. But eventually life intrudes, and she spends less time hiking. Her heart feels different; her father guesses she’s stayed away too long. Angela returns and reacquaints herself with her friend. She knows she can’t halt the passage of time—indeed, an afterward notes that because of climate change, the glacier will be gone within 20 years—but promises she’ll always visit and listen. That night, her heart beats the rhythm of her beloved friend’s name. This is a gentle story about how a bond with nature can transform one’s life; it may inspire readers to engage with their own surroundings. The lovely illustrations, created with gouache watercolors enhanced digitally and dominated by blues, capture the glacier’s magnificence and Angela’s fierce love. She and her dad are light-skinned.
A reminder not only of nature’s delicate beauty, but also of its fragility. (Picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780823450824
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Neal Porter/Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists.
How to raise money for a coveted poster: put your friends to work!
John, founder of the FUBU fashion line and a Shark Tank venture capitalist, offers a self-referential blueprint for financial success. Having only half of the $10 he needs for a Minka J poster, Daymond forks over $1 to buy a plain T-shirt, paints a picture of the pop star on it, sells it for $5, and uses all of his cash to buy nine more shirts. Then he recruits three friends to decorate them with his design and help sell them for an unspecified amount (from a conveniently free and empty street-fair booth) until they’re gone. The enterprising entrepreneur reimburses himself for the shirts and splits the remaining proceeds, which leaves him with enough for that poster as well as a “brand-new business book,” while his friends express other fiscal strategies: saving their share, spending it all on new art supplies, or donating part and buying a (math) book with the rest. (In a closing summation, the author also suggests investing in stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrency.) Though Miles cranks up the visual energy in her sparsely detailed illustrations by incorporating bright colors and lots of greenbacks, the actual advice feels a bit vague. Daymond is Black; most of the cast are people of color. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
It’s hard to argue with success, but guides that actually do the math will be more useful to budding capitalists. (Picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: March 21, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-56727-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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