Warm memories of really cold places and the people who brave them for science.
A lively and revealing visit to our remotest continent.
Childhood dreams of being an explorer went nowhere, Neri writes, but as an adult, he had a chance to realize his ambitions by taking a grant-funded trip to Antarctica. Along with other artists and writers, he joined researchers (“mostly white, but I see a few folks of color like me”) living and working at McMurdo Station to record discoveries and impressions. Funny and informative as his comments are, though, it’s his photos, which are joined by others drawn from a multitude of sources and mounted here as snapshots, that really bring the forbidding locale to life…particularly since Wilkin enhances many of them with superimposed cartoon images that catch the author looking on as scientists engage in a range of specifically described projects, meeting penguins, imagining flights over rapidly melting ice, urgently surveying a photo gallery of outdoor loos (brrr), and, all too soon, cheerily waving goodbye. Maps, galleries of rugged vehicles and outerwear, lists of things visitors to the station will find (a coffee shop, an ATM) and won’t (polar bears, guns), and multiple closing factual roundups will give armchair travelers all the more incentive to put trips to the still largely unexplored continent on their bucket lists.
Warm memories of really cold places and the people who brave them for science. (author’s note, recommended reading and viewing, photo credits) (Illustrated nonfiction. 7-11)Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781536223323
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
In a word: Wonderful.
A spelling-bee champ welcomes readers to the zesty, awesome world of wording wizardry.
Whether you recite it from A to Z or in reverse, the alphabet’s cool, not to mention the words you can build by combining its letters in myriad ways. Such is the premise of this cheerful book that lists 26 empowering words, from Z to A—Avant-garde’s own initials—each beginning with a different letter of the alphabet (except X, for which extraordinary subs). Each word is a favorite of the teen author, who in 2021 became the first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The word list begins and ends with the author’s own names (Zaila, meaning “mighty, powerful,” and Avant-garde, “to be at the forefront”). On each page, the same word appears three to five times, printed in boldfaced type, alongside brief, thought-provoking, upbeat observations. The words cavort spiritedly on the page in hyphenated form (“L-A-U-G-H-T-E-R,” “K-I-N-D-N-E-S-S”), inviting readers to draw their pronunciations out slowly, as if to playfully savor their “feel.” A pithy quotation from luminaries such as Albert Einstein, Sitting Bull, and Shakira accompanies each word. Energetic, bold illustrations featuring dynamic patterns and characters diverse in skin tone, age, and physical ability greatly enliven the book. Readers should be strongly encouraged to create personal word lists and commentaries. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
In a word: Wonderful. (the origins of Zaila’s words of wonder) (Picture book. 7-10)Pub Date: June 27, 2023
ISBN: 9780593568934
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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