Sure to motivate readers to reach for the stars.
A young girl’s curiosity spurs her to map galaxies.
Summers anchors this biography of astrophysicist Hélène Courtois (b. 1970) with the following refrain: “Hélène observed. Hélène questioned. Hélène had ideas. And the moon was always waiting for her.” This use of repetition captures the spirit of an inquisitive young girl who hailed from a small French village and whose simple query— “What is beyond the moon?”—has led to a lifetime of study. Summers skillfully demonstrates how map reading inspired Hélène to eventually decode the skies. As a girl, she learned to read trail maps and explore nearby mountains. Later, she read road maps, which led her to observe the northern lights and other astral occurrences. She was often the only woman in the classroom while studying astrophysics at college. Gazing at the night sky through a professional telescope, Hélène fell in love with galaxies, “luminous lighthouses in the vast sea of dark matter.” She’d found her calling as a cosmographer, or one who maps galaxies. She assembled a team and along the way discovered a supercluster, which included the Milky Way. Though Summers gives readers a strong sense of her subject, some of the scientific language isn’t explained until the glossary, which may frustrate youngsters. James has exuberantly illustrated Courtois’ life by juxtaposing traditional classroom scenes and spot art of scientists at work, with vast night skies filled with twinkling stars and radiant blue and purple galaxies brushed with a golden glow.
Sure to motivate readers to reach for the stars. (timeline, profiles of other women astronomers, information on building a professional telescope, bibliography) (Picture-book biography. 5-9)Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781536228977
Page Count: 48
Publisher: MIT Kids Press/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
© 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.
