Though well-meaning, this vague profile doesn't quite capture either Hawking's groundbreaking career or his full humanity.
Growing up in a bookish family, Stephen was always asking questions. At 12, he pondered the origin of the universe. At 17, he attended Oxford University, where he began losing control of his body. At 21, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neuromuscular disease, and given two years to live. Though his condition deteriorated, eventually requiring him to use a wheelchair and an augmentative communication device, he defied his grim prognosis by decades. In 1974, his discovery that black holes leaked radiation earned him international acclaim and led him to write the bestselling A Brief History of Time. Active and inquisitive until his death at 76, he researched life on other planets and advocated for disability rights. Kulikov’s scratchy illustrations cleverly acknowledge Hawking’s research, turning such everyday objects as a spinning LP and spilled tea into eye-catching black holes. However, the authors’ lack of specificity blurs Hawking’s accomplishments; for instance, his “important university job once held by genius scientist Isaac Newton”—Cambridge University’s prestigious Lucasian Professor of Mathematics position—is unnamed. Such down-to-earth details as Hawking’s family, humor, and penchant for parties are unfortunately eclipsed by cloying disability clichés declaring him “a triumphant life force, almost otherworldly,” whose brilliant mind was “trapped within his powerless body.” Kulikov depicts a seemingly all-white cast.
Though well-meaning, this vague profile doesn't quite capture either Hawking's groundbreaking career or his full humanity. (author's note, bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-399-55028-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
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
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses.
An NBA star pays tribute to the influence of his grandfather.
In the same vein as his Long Shot (2009), illustrated by Frank Morrison, this latest from Paul prioritizes values and character: “My granddad Papa Chilly had dreams that came true,” he writes, “so maybe if I listen and watch him, / mine will too.” So it is that the wide-eyed Black child in the simply drawn illustrations rises early to get to the playground hoops before anyone else, watches his elder working hard and respecting others, hears him cheering along with the rest of the family from the stands during games, and recalls in a prose afterword that his grandfather wasn’t one to lecture but taught by example. Paul mentions in both the text and the backmatter that Papa Chilly was the first African American to own a service station in North Carolina (his presumed dream) but not that he was killed in a robbery, which has the effect of keeping the overall tone positive and the instructional content one-dimensional. Figures in the pictures are mostly dark-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Blandly inspirational fare made to evoke equally shrink-wrapped responses. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-250-81003-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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