A disjointed jumble—the parts (some of them, anyway) better than the whole.
This Spanish import via Germany offers glimpses of the southernmost continent framed as a quick tribute/travelogue.
Cuesta Hernando begins the book by describing a sea voyage to McMurdo Station in a faux journal format but is inconsistent about maintaining it. After galleries of Antarctic whales, seals, and penguins, he moves on to various Antarctica-related topics. These include daily life at a research station, climatological facts about the continent, a bulleted list of human-caused “Lurking Dangers” to the ecosystem, a discussion of volcanoes, a Eurocentric “Who Discovered Antarctica” entry, a page of arbitrary facts that does double duty as a glossary, and a closing note about climate change…at both poles. The facts have been strung together with little apparent sense of flow, a picture caption that mentions the Antarctic Treaty occurring several pages before the topical spread that explains it. Along with icescapes and wildlife, Martín’s reasonably accurate paintings offer views of McMurdo scientists (mostly but not entirely White) at work inside and out, a volcano, the Antarctic seabed, and the southern aurora. Armchair naturalists and explorers will be better served by the closer encounters described in, for instance, Sally M. Walker’s Frozen Secrets (2010) or Sophie Webb’s evocative My Season With Penguins (2000). (This book was reviewed digitally with 14.3-by-23-inch double-page spreads viewed at 50% of actual size.)
A disjointed jumble—the parts (some of them, anyway) better than the whole. (map) (Nonfiction. 7-9)Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-3-7913-7456-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Prestel
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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 lighthearted first look at an increasingly useful skill.
Grown-ups may not be the only audience for this simple explanation of how algorithms work.
Taking a confused-looking hipster parent firmly in hand, a child first points to all the computers around the house (“Pro Tip: When dealing with grown-ups, don’t jump into the complicated stuff too fast. Start with something they already know”). Next, the child leads the adult outside to make and follow step-by-step directions for getting to the park, deciding which playground equipment to use, and finally walking home. Along the way, concepts like conditionals and variables come into play in street maps and diagrams, and a literal bug stands in for the sort that programmers will inevitably need to find and solve. The lesson culminates in an actual sample of very simple code with labels that unpack each instruction…plus a pop quiz to lay out a decision tree for crossing the street, because if “your grown-up can explain it, that shows they understand it!” That goes for kids, too—and though Spiro doesn’t take the logical next step and furnish leads to actual manuals, young (and not so young) fledgling coders will find plenty of good ones around, such as Get Coding! (2017), published by Candlewick, or Rachel Ziter’s Coding From Scratch (2018).
A lighthearted first look at an increasingly useful skill. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9781623543181
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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