Grand and thought-provoking.
A soaring visual tribute to the qualities that both unite bridges and make them individually distinct.
From the 10.4-foot-long El Marco Bridge that links Spain with Portugal to the 34-mile Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge—an undulating ribbon in Majewski’s painted overview that sweeps elegantly into the distance and out of sight over the edge of the page—this gallery of nearly two dozen examples, drawn from every continent except Antarctica and Australia, offers both a dazzling catalog of engineering wonders and an opportunity to reflect on their commonalities. “All over the world,” the author/illustrator writes, “bridges connect.” Some, as his pithy captions and brief endnotes indicate, connect cities, countries, or even continents; others, like the Pont du Gard in Paris or Alabama’s Edmund Pettis Bridge, are historic sites that link our past and present. Whether made of steel, stone, or, like the Umshiang Double-Decker Root Bridge in Meghalaya, India, of living wood, some soar high overhead, while others run just over or even under water. His groups of pedestrians, when the figures are large enough to tell, are racially diverse. Dan Zettwoch’s work of graphic nonfiction Bridges: Engineering Masterpieces (2022) offers a fuller history of bridges and a more systematic look at the nuts and bolts of their construction, but this will do at least as good a job of exciting feelings of wonder at the beauty of bridges as well as their remarkable range of designs and materials. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Grand and thought-provoking. (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781419756818
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
