A necessary and optimistic call to action.
An amalgam of poetry and science rallies readers to help save the planet.
Bauer skips through Earth’s evolutionary history, then lingers on the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs and on the appearance of humans, “the most vulnerable / of all creatures.” Vulnerable, perhaps, but Bauer notes that “we used our big brains / to tame / fire,” which meant we were then eating better. The bigger our brains grew, the more we drew from Earth’s belly—oil, coal, gas—later creating pesticides and plastic, which polluted our water and soil. She succinctly summarizes humankind’s march toward a Sixth Great Extinction: “Only a humongous asteroid / ever brought more rapid change / than we have created / with our love / of fire.” Writing in lyrical free verse, Bauer argues that as latecomers to Earth, we’ve had an outsize impact on its health, which is vividly portrayed in Diao’s illustrations of starry nights, fiery caves, and denuded landscapes. In the second half of the book, more essay than free verse, Bauer suggests positive actions, such as turning to wind and water power. She lauds inspirational activists who began their work as teenagers—Greta Thunberg and Autumn Peltier—as well as organizations like Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots. Bauer then urges readers to dig within their vast imaginations: “Imagine a future in which this life-giving Earth is honored. In which life is protected. Every form of life. Not just our own.”
A necessary and optimistic call to action. (Informational picture book. 6-10)Pub Date: March 24, 2026
ISBN: 9781536234039
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
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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