Light, bright, and commendable for its inclusive, worldwide perspective.
A broad-spectrum overview of rainbow physics, lore, and symbology.
Davis splits up her topic into five distinct sections. First, she explains how rainbows are created by light bouncing around inside raindrops or prisms, why the order of colors is always the same, with red on top (unless the prism is positioned pointy side down…an exception she doesn’t unpack in the text but that Tang illustrates), how thinkers from Aristotle to Sir Isaac Newton refined our understanding of the physics involved, and how certain conditions can generate fogbows and other “almost rainbows.” She then moves on to examples of rainbows in Chinese, Japanese, Aboriginal Australian, Norse, and ancient Greek mythology and looks at rainbows in art from Elizabethan times to the “Rainbow Village” painted in protest in Taiwan in 2008 by folk artist Huang Yung-fu and, along with nods to rainbows as good (to Noah, for instance) or bad (in “Amazonian culture”) omens and to Greenpeace’s ship Rainbow Warrior, which was blown up by French intelligence services, closes with a full spread on the history of the rainbow flag as a symbol of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. The illustrations offer schematic views of refracting light rays and of rainbows lighting up ancient and modern skies above a culturally and racially diverse array of observers, historical figures, and, at the end, couples.
Light, bright, and commendable for its inclusive, worldwide perspective. (glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 7-9)Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9781838748579
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
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
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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