Just the ticket for unstoppable young mixers and makers with big dreams.
Ecological concerns prompt a young Black inventor to create a plastic-eating creature.
This STEM-centric romp introduces Nova, a science-loving child with a big personality, a pesky preteen big sister, and a gigantic underground lab. Having learned that scientists are working on mushrooms and mealworms that will consume the multiple islands of waste plastic floating in the ocean, Nova decides to help out. Unfortunately, Chomp, the little being she creates by zapping a mix of random ingredients, including her sister’s used gum (“IT’S ALIVE!”), doesn’t stop with eating the odd toothbrush and other small items—and Chomp grows bigger the more it consumes. Young readers may be confused by the disconnect between Nova’s claim that Chomp just eats plastic; in the loudly hued cartoon scenes, the pink, blobby behemoth ignores piles of plastic rubbish to instead chow down indiscriminately on everything else, from kitchen cabinets and cardboard to hovering helicopters. Still, Nova’s insight that acetic acid dissolves chewing gum is a nugget of actual chemistry, and Timothy brings the tale to a suitably thrilling climax that involves sisterly bonding, creative problem-solving, and wildly entertaining antics. Science for the win!
Just the ticket for unstoppable young mixers and makers with big dreams. (character drawing lessons) (Graphic science fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9798887771335
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
The story feels a bit contrived, but Ada will be a welcome addition to the small circle of science-loving girls in the...
Using science and technology, third-grader Ada Lace kicks off her new series by solving a mystery even with her leg in a cast.
Temporarily housebound after a badly executed bungee jump, Ada uses binoculars to document the ecosystem of her new neighborhood in San Francisco. She records her observations in a field journal, a project that intrigues new friend Nina, who lives nearby. When they see that Ms. Reed’s dog, Marguerite, is missing, they leap to the conclusion that it has been stolen. Nina does the legwork and Ada provides the technology for their search for the dognapper. Story-crafting takes a back seat to scene-setting in this series kickoff that introduces the major players. As part of the series formula, science topics and gadgetry are integrated into the stories and further explained in a “Behind the Science” afterword. This installment incorporates drones, a wireless camera, gecko gloves, and the Turing test as well as the concept of an ecosystem. There are no ethnic indicators in the text, but the illustrations reveal that Ada, her family, and bratty neighbor Milton are white; Nina appears to be Southeast Asian; and Mr. Peebles, an inventor who lives nearby, is black.
The story feels a bit contrived, but Ada will be a welcome addition to the small circle of science-loving girls in the chapter-book world. (Fiction. 7-9)Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-8599-9
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
A launch-pad fizzle.
Flaps and pull-tabs in assorted astro-scenes reveal several wonders of the universe as well as inside glimpses of observatories, rockets, a space suit, and the International Space Station.
Interactive features include a spinnable Milky Way, pop-up launches of Ariane and Soyuz rockets, a solar-system tour, visits to the surfaces of the moon and Mars, and cutaway views beneath long, thin flaps of an international array of launch vehicles. Despite these bells and whistles, this import is far from ready for liftoff. Not only has Antarctica somehow gone missing from the pop-up globe, but Baumann’s commentary (at least in Booker’s translation from the French original) shows more enthusiasm than strict attention to accuracy. Both Mercury and Venus are designated “hottest planet” (right answer: Venus); claims that there is no gravity in space and that black holes are a type of star are at best simplistic; and “we do not know what [other galaxies] actually look like” is nonsensical. Moreover, in a clumsy attempt to diversify the cast on a spread about astronaut training, Latyk gives an (evidently) Asian figure caricatured slit eyes and yellow skin.
A launch-pad fizzle. (Informational pop-up picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 979-1-02760-197-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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