A thought-provoking telling of an unusual historical episode.
Premature babies as a sideshow attraction?
Kids will be amazed to learn that a “Baby Incubator” exhibit opened at Coney Island in 1903, attracting huge crowds. Spectators flocked to ogle tiny newborns and the groundbreaking technology—the “warming boxes” themselves—designed to keep premature babies alive. Back then, medical wisdom held that tiny, fragile newborns couldn’t survive, and hospitals, skeptical of newfangled machines, wouldn’t use them. German-born Dr. Martin Couney believed otherwise. His own mentor in Paris had suggested using incubators for preemies, and Couney at first demonstrated the machines without babies at the Berlin Exposition of 1896. In order to help the public better understand that they really worked effectively, Couney then placed infants in them. This enhanced exhibit succeeded wildly, and the babies survived. In 1903, Couney established what became a permanent preemie hospital display, complete with incubators, on Coney Island’s boardwalk. The newborns received round-the-clock nursing care, with admission fees paying for food, treatment, equipment, and medical personnel; it closed in 1943. This smoothly written account of little-known events results in a heartwarming story that will help develop audience empathy. Appealing illustrations capture the period and ambiance nicely and depict winsome infants of different races and ethnicities. Dr. Couney, his family, and medical professionals present White; spectators throughout are racially diverse. Questionable, startling endpaper art depicts “weird folks” once placed on public display as sideshow attractions.
A thought-provoking telling of an unusual historical episode. (author's note, select bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-939547-66-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Creston
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
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
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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