Just when you think there is nothing more to be said about woolly mammoths, Markle finds a way to present information in a fresh new way. Here she compares the preserved remains of woolly mammoths and modern elephants, showing similarities and differences in ears, coats, feet, teeth and diet. Throughout, she asks intriguing scientific questions while investigating the extinction of these ponderous mammals. For example, most elephants have large ears with many blood vessels that are used to reduce body heat when the weather is very warm. The mammoth, on the other hand, had very small ears, good for conserving heat in cold climates, but not useful in dispersing body heat when the climate grew warmer. Perhaps as the climate grew warmer, mammoths could not adapt, and they died of overheating. Clear, color photos are used throughout, and references are made to the tools that modern scientists use to study remains and learn more about extinct animals. Markle leaves the reader with a tease about the possibility of cloning mammoths, and encourages young science enthusiasts to go out and solve their mysteries. Solid science and a good but challenging read. (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: May 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-8027-9589-2
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Walker
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
When Uncle Wolfe takes them on a dinosaur hunt, orphaned twins Grace and Marty find themselves in a B-movie with email. When the twins’ explorer parents vanish in the Amazon (to be found in the next book?), mischief-maker Marty and genius scaredy-cat Grace go to live on Uncle Wolfe’s private island. Wolfe hunts cryptids: mythical creatures such as Yetis, Kraken, and Chupacabras. Though he doesn’t intend to bring the children on his dinosaur hunt in the Congo, they arrive anyway, after falling from his airplane into the darkest jungle, accompanied only by a teacup poodle, a chimpanzee named Bo, and a high-end Gizmo complete with videoconferencing. There the children must reunite with their uncle, find the mythic dinosaur Mokèlè-mbembè, and avoid the minions of evil Dr. Blackwood. Luckily there are friendly Pygmies to help. And what is the deep, dark secret that has given Grace nightmares all her life—and what does it have to do with Dr. Blackwood? Enjoyably rollicking adventures are appropriately cheesy; the stereotypes, though equally fitting, are a bit much. (Fiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-7868-5161-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2004
Setting story aside, the primary duty of Bluebonnet, an armadillo, is to aid and abet the public relations efforts of the Texas tourism industry. The only issue that could be construed as a character-driven conflict in this title is that Bluebonnet has missed Marshall’s Fire Ant Festival. Her real purpose, however, is to visit the Marshall train depot. Even when a fence bars her from entering that duly-described edifice, the fetching armadillo’s problem melts away under the benign gaze of T.P., a cat whose name stands for the Texas & Pacific. The two become ever-smilin’ buddies as T.P. tells Bluebonnet all manner of things of interest mostly to Texans and tourists. Texas schoolchildren helped mount a campaign to save the depot from demolition, readers learn, although they don’t learn why. Vincent’s illustrations offer a sense of the depot’s early-1900s bustle, however, and his critters are cute as can be. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-56554-311-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Pelican
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
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