Strong appeals to the sense of adventure as well as the typical other five.
Visits to 11 of the most extreme places on Earth—and beyond.
Inviting intrepid young explorers to pack up survival gear and follow along, Stewart-Sharpe leads a zigzag tour that begins in the heat-blasted Danakil Depression of Ethiopia, ends on Mars, and in between roves from the subterranean Krubera Cave in (the country of) Georgia and the benthic Challenger Deep to volcanic Zavodovski Island (“The world’s stinkiest place”). Along with proposing such feats as sky-diving to the top of Mount Everest and hauling a pulk (sled) across Antarctica, the author name-drops dozens of actual people, including many with disabilities, who have done the same and also calls attention to each locale’s distinctive sights, sounds, scents, sensations, and tastes. Cushley provides such helpful images as a tally of useful supplies but goes mostly for montage-style outdoor scenes populated by local wildlife and small, racially diverse visitors. Even seasoned armchair travelers will not only encounter some unfamiliar places, but are likely to find all of them more memorable for the sensory notes about, for instance, the taste of piranha (“weirdly ‘muddy’ ”), the smell of a lightning storm over Lake Maracaibo, or the feeling of a venomous mulga snake gliding over a boot in the Australian Outback. A reminder to take care of our planet plus the leading question “But where to next?” add suitable closing notes.
Strong appeals to the sense of adventure as well as the typical other five. (glossary) (Nonfiction. 6-9)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781623544195
Page Count: 68
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
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
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
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