A fallen tree becomes a world of wonders in this marvelous celebration of life on the forest floor.
When one tree falls, the entire forest wakes up.
A clearing opens in the forest around a mighty fallen tree. As it begins to decompose, the tree attracts life from far and wide. First, insects such as alpine longhorn beetles and carpenter ants arrive, feeding on and tunneling through the dead wood. Fungi slowly transform parts of the tree into humus, a valuable food source for nearby plants. Birds and small mammals burrow in the tree’s hollows and use the fallen trunk for safe passage across a stream. With the help of these many forest organisms, the decaying tree becomes essential to the forest’s biodiversity and a great example of symbiosis. This Italian import is packed to the roots with in-depth info about the flora and fauna that interact with a forest’s fallen trees, as well as a segment about the human impact on forest health and tips on how to promote biodiversity in readers’ own backyards. Manageable blocks of text are peppered with scientific words that are bolded and defined, making the information accessible to the upper elementary set for both interest and research, despite its lack of bibliographic sources. Gottardi’s intricate illustrations depict the wonder of the forest in fine lines and eye-catching colors, from majestic foxes dusted with snow to tiny, delicately frilled lichens.
A fallen tree becomes a world of wonders in this marvelous celebration of life on the forest floor. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: yesterday
ISBN: 9781837290574
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Phaidon
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe.
An introduction to gravity.
The book opens with the most iconic demonstration of gravity, an apple falling. Throughout, Herz tackles both huge concepts—how gravity compresses atoms to form stars and how black holes pull all kinds of matter toward them—and more concrete ones: how gravity allows you to jump up and then come back down to the ground. Gravity narrates in spare yet lyrical verse, explaining how it creates planets and compresses atoms and comparing itself to a hug. “My embrace is tight enough that you don’t float like a balloon, but loose enough that you can run and leap and play.” Gravity personifies itself at times: “I am stubborn—the bigger things are, the harder I pull.” Beautiful illustrations depict swirling planets and black holes alongside racially diverse children playing, running, and jumping, all thanks to gravity. Thorough backmatter discusses how Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity and explains Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. While at times Herz’s explanations may be a bit too technical for some readers, burgeoning scientists will be drawn in.
An in-depth and visually pleasing look at one of the most fundamental forces in the universe. (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: April 15, 2024
ISBN: 9781668936849
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tilbury House
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lighthearted first look at an increasingly useful skill.
Grown-ups may not be the only audience for this simple explanation of how algorithms work.
Taking a confused-looking hipster parent firmly in hand, a child first points to all the computers around the house (“Pro Tip: When dealing with grown-ups, don’t jump into the complicated stuff too fast. Start with something they already know”). Next, the child leads the adult outside to make and follow step-by-step directions for getting to the park, deciding which playground equipment to use, and finally walking home. Along the way, concepts like conditionals and variables come into play in street maps and diagrams, and a literal bug stands in for the sort that programmers will inevitably need to find and solve. The lesson culminates in an actual sample of very simple code with labels that unpack each instruction…plus a pop quiz to lay out a decision tree for crossing the street, because if “your grown-up can explain it, that shows they understand it!” That goes for kids, too—and though Spiro doesn’t take the logical next step and furnish leads to actual manuals, young (and not so young) fledgling coders will find plenty of good ones around, such as Get Coding! (2017), published by Candlewick, or Rachel Ziter’s Coding From Scratch (2018).
A lighthearted first look at an increasingly useful skill. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 7-9)Pub Date: Oct. 10, 2023
ISBN: 9781623543181
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
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