Though engagingly conveyed, this slight account grievously lacks context.
A rivalry between Thomas Jefferson and a French naturalist is detailed in this lengthy picture book.
In Rockliff’s rollicking tale, Jefferson jots down numbers everywhere he goes. He reads a new book by a famous Frenchman named Buffon, claiming that “America [is] a terrible, miserable, cold, damp place where nothing good could grow” and animals are unnaturally small. Jefferson is mystified by these claims from a person who has never even been to America, and he sets out to prove him wrong. Amid the Revolutionary War, Jefferson finds time to compile enough numbers for a book, Notes on the State of Virginia. When he is asked to represent the new United States in France, Jefferson hopes to have his book presented to Buffon, but “the famous Frenchman had already made up his mind.” Jefferson compiles more numbers—measurements of animals small and large—and finally has a rotting moose carcass sent to Buffon. Anticlimactically, Buffon dies without acknowledging the huge animal. Schindler’s finely detailed illustrations are well suited to the subject and impress with period detail; they include one background character of color among the otherwise all-white cast. Children obsessed with the early republic and with science may find this obscure tale entertaining, but adults familiar with Jefferson’s writings and biography will hesitate to share this frivolous anecdote with children, as it ignores his legacy of racism and slavery even in the backmatter notes, which span six pages.
Though engagingly conveyed, this slight account grievously lacks context. (sources) (Informational picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9410-4
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
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
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