Seibert (Discovering El Niño, not reviewed, etc.) narrows the definition of “time capsule” to include only sealed containers with a specific opening date. Then (evidently feeling that that didn’t leave enough material for an entire book) proceeds to pad the discussion with examples that don’t qualify: the pyramids, the Rosetta Stone, the tomb of Ch’in Shih Huang Ti, the engraved plates placed aboard the Voyager space probes, the thousands of hollow building cornerstones. But she spares only a few glances at the revealing, sometimes quirky artifacts placed into the “true” time capsules that she does mention, such as the Centennial Safe, closed in 1876 and opened in 1976, the Westinghouse Capsule buried at the 1939 World’s Fair, and the granddaddy of them all: Oglethorpe University’s Crypt of Civilization. The drab black-and-white photos don’t help, and for readers eager to create time capsules of their own she provides such “instructions” as “you will need to research which kinds of containers can preserve items in the best way.” The annotated Web sites at the end are a plus, but not a big enough one to rescue this uninspired effort. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 9-11)
Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-7613-0423-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Millbrook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
Miranda’s book counts the monsters gathering at a birthday party, while a simple rhyming text keeps the tally and surveys the action: “Seven starved monsters are licking the dishes./Eight blow out candles and make birthday wishes.” The counting proceeds to ten, then by tens to fifty, then gradually returns to one, which makes the monster’s mother, a purple pin-headed octopus, very happy. The book is surprisingly effective due to Powell’s artwork; the color has texture and density, as if it were poured onto the page, but the real attention-getter is the singularity of every monster attendee. They are highly individual and, therefore, eminently countable. As the numbers start crawling upward, it is both fun and a challenge to try to recognize monsters who have appeared in previous pages, or to attempt to stay focused when counting the swirling or bunched creatures. The story has glints of humor, and in combination with the illustrations is a grand addition to the counting shelf. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201835-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
Who is next in the ocean food chain? Pallotta has a surprising answer in this picture book glimpse of one curious boy. Danny, fascinated by plankton, takes his dory and rows out into the ocean, where he sees shrimp eating those plankton, fish sand eels eating shrimp, mackerel eating fish sand eels, bluefish chasing mackerel, tuna after bluefish, and killer whales after tuna. When an enormous humpbacked whale arrives on the scene, Danny’s dory tips over and he has to swim for a large rock or become—he worries’someone’s lunch. Surreal acrylic illustrations in vivid blues and red extend the story of a small boy, a small boat, and a vast ocean, in which the laws of the food chain are paramount. That the boy has been bathtub-bound during this entire imaginative foray doesn’t diminish the suspense, and the facts Pallotta presents are solidly researched. A charming fish tale about the one—the boy—that got away. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-88106-075-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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