A fascinating tale of conservation at its most creative.
In Svalbard, Norway, lies buried treasure.
Worries about climate change, war, and extinction led to the construction of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Here, on an Arctic island, in “the belly of a mountain,” duplicates from seed banks around the world are stored, preserved for the future, should the need for them arise. Clendenan carefully outlines the purpose and creation of this protected collection. Her relatively simple text is accompanied by sidebars offering more detail on the challenges of transporting seeds, the difficulty of constructing the vault (workers had to be vigilant for roaming polar bears), and more. Cicchese's appealing illustrations signal the Arctic cold with shades of blue; a diverse workforce is bundled up against the frigid temperatures. In scenes depicting warmer climates, reds, greens, and browns abound as an equally diverse set of humans collect seeds, plant them, and enjoy the crops. Clendenan stresses that this is a truly international project: “Inside the vault, a walk down the aisles becomes a walk through the world.” Younger readers may not entirely understand the need for the collection but will surely be engaged by the process; construction enthusiasts will especially appreciate the spreads focusing on the machines from around the world brought to this isolated place to bore into the mountain. Even the seed packets are designed to be nearly indestructible.
A fascinating tale of conservation at its most creative. (more about seeds and seed banks, author’s note, resources for kids, selected bibliography) (Informational picture book. 6-9)Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781623544805
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
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
© Copyright 2025 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.
