Spectacular full-color photographs and computer images will attract readers to this volume of current information about the universe, but Scott (Twins!, p. 117) assumes a lot of prior knowledge on the part of readers, and there is no glossary of terms nor timeline to help with the context. The discussion begins with early telescopes and scientists, including Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, and proceeds rapidly on to Hubble’s Theory of the Expanding Universe. She explains how images from the Hubble Telescope support earlier theories and have changed scientist’s ideas about the formation of the universe, the planets in our solar system, and distant galaxies. Throughout are thumbnail sketches of contemporary astronomers and their work. Also included: a discussion of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet collision with Jupiter in 1995, the birth and death of stars and galaxies, protoplanetary disks in Orion, supernovas, and speculation on black holes and life on other planets. The fussy design detracts from the discussion: Text superimposed on photographs is difficult to read; boxes of colored type are inserted in photographs or into the margins. It’s a challenging title, with appeal mostly for highly motivated science enthusiasts. (index) (Nonfiction. 10-14)
Pub Date: May 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-7868-0147-6
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1998
An impressive sequel.
Boy and fox follow separate paths in postwar rebuilding.
A year after Peter finds refuge with former soldier Vola, he prepares to leave to return to his childhood home. He plans to join the Junior Water Warriors, young people repurposing the machines and structures of war to reclaim reservoirs and rivers poisoned in the conflict, and then to set out on his own to live apart from others. At 13, Peter is competent and self-contained. Vola marvels at the construction of the floor of the cabin he’s built on her land, but the losses he’s sustained have left a mark. He imposes a penance on himself, reimagining the story of rescuing the orphaned kit Pax as one in which he follows his father’s counsel to kill the animal before he could form a connection. He thinks of his heart as having a stone inside it. Pax, meanwhile, has fathered three kits who claim his attention and devotion. Alternating chapters from the fox’s point of view demonstrate Pax’s care for his family—his mate, Bristle; her brother; and the three kits. Pax becomes especially attached to his daughter, who accompanies him on a journey that intersects with Peter’s and allows Peter to not only redeem his past, but imagine a future. This is a deftly nuanced look at the fragility and strength of the human heart. All the human characters read as White. Illustrations not seen.
An impressive sequel. (Fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-293034-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
Remarking that ``nothing about the weather is very simple,'' Simon goes on to describe how the sun, atmosphere, earth's rotation, ground cover, altitude, pollution, and other factors influence it; briefly, he also tells how weather balloons gather information. Even for this outstanding author, it's a tough, complex topic, and he's not entirely successful in simplifying it; moreover, the import of the striking uncaptioned color photos here isn't always clear. One passage—``Cumulus clouds sometimes build up into towering masses called cumulus congestus, or swelling cumulus, which may turn into cumulonimbus clouds''—is superimposed on a blue-gray, cloud-covered landscape. But which kind of clouds are these? Another photo, in blue-black and white, shows what might be precipitation in the upper atmosphere, or rain falling on a darkened landscape, or...? Generally competent and certainly attractive, but not Simon's best. (Nonfiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-688-10546-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1993
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