A solid contribution to the venerable series, offering an unusual mix of history and science.
An account of the “Schoolchildren’s Blizzard” of 1888, with explanations of how blizzards form and are forecast.
Though Zoehfeld mentions blizzards elsewhere, she focuses on the Midwest, where, she writes, they are “among the worst in the world.” Her description of the January 1888 storm certainly supports the claim (even though she doesn’t go into death tolls or particular tragedies). She follows up with explanations of how warm and cold fronts clash, what happens to the water vapor carried in air masses as temperatures change, how meteorologists predict storms (and what exactly defines a “blizzard”—it involves wind speed, duration, and visibility conditions), and finally safety precautions to take until it’s time to go play in the snow. All very reassuring. She also gives readers a taste of specific technical terms such as “condensation” and “deposition” and offers instructions for keeping a weather log and one other simple activity. Along with maps and diagrams, Frost provides simply drawn scenes of a semirural cluster of log cabins, populated by white families in the 19th century but giving way in occasional anachronistically placed illustrations and on later pages to a similar but more inclusive neighborhood with at least one interracial couple.
A solid contribution to the venerable series, offering an unusual mix of history and science. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-248473-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
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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