Another creative, informative, and entertaining STEM romp from a winning team.
An unforgettable chance to “never think about snot or pee or doughnuts the same way again.”
The creators responsible for The Museum of Odd Body Leftovers (2022) offer insights into glands, those often unacknowledged cells and organs responsible for everything from sleep to hunger and beyond. Poliquin and Hanmer present the human body as a sprawling factory populated by tiny hard-hatted boss and deputy glands, who offer a tour. Their spiel produces a lot of text in small type, but it’s filled with humor, rewarding persistent readers. Poliquin helpfully explains the two types of glands, endocrine (or messengers) and exocrine (or “goop” glands). Along the way, she and Hanmer employ enjoyably gross and downright clever visual metaphors: Our nasal glands are described as the “snot shower,” a gauge measures saliva levels (from “dry” to “saliva tsunami”), and workers on an assembly line, receiving messages from the hypothalamus, are diligently portrayed sorting and sending out the right hormones. Fresh, unpretentious, and often funny language (“strange lumps and squeezy passages”) accurately conveys gland functions. Even the most complicated processes—for instance, how the autonomic nervous system responds to panic-inducing situations—get clear and thorough explanations. Spotting the rude graffiti left by gleefully disruptive concealed germs adds extra pizzazz, especially when pathogens attempt a takeover of the digestion department. Hints at future volumes raise hopes of more in this excellent educational series.
Another creative, informative, and entertaining STEM romp from a winning team. (glossary, further reading, index) (Nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781778400988
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Greystone Kids
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere.
This book is buzzing with trivia.
Follow a swarm of bees as they leave a beekeeper’s apiary in search of a new home. As the scout bees traverse the fields, readers are provided with a potpourri of facts and statements about bees. The information is scattered—much like the scout bees—and as a result, both the nominal plot and informational content are tissue-thin. There are some interesting facts throughout the book, but many pieces of trivia are too, well trivial, to prove useful. For example, as the bees travel, readers learn that “onion flowers are round and fluffy” and “fennel is a plant that is used in cooking.” Other facts are oversimplified and as a result are not accurate. For example, monofloral honey is defined as “made by bees who visit just one kind of flower” with no acknowledgment of the fact that bees may range widely, and swarm activity is described as a springtime event, when it can also occur in summer and early fall. The information in the book, such as species identification and measurement units, is directed toward British readers. The flat, thin-lined artwork does little to enhance the story, but an “I spy” game challenging readers to find a specific bee throughout is amusing.
Friends of these pollinators will be best served elsewhere. (Informational picture book. 8-10)Pub Date: May 18, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-500-65265-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Contentwise, an arbitrary assortment…but sure to draw fans of comics, of science, or of both.
Flash, Batman, and other characters from the DC Comics universe tackle supervillains and STEM-related topics and sometimes, both.
Credited to 20 writers and illustrators in various combinations, the 10 episodes invite readers to tag along as Mera and Aquaman visit oceanic zones from epipelagic to hadalpelagic; Supergirl helps a young scholar pick a science-project topic by taking her on a tour of the solar system; and Swamp Thing lends Poison Ivy a hand to describe how DNA works (later joining Swamp Kid to scuttle a climate-altering scheme by Arcane). In other episodes, various costumed creations explain the ins and outs of diverse large- and small-scale phenomena, including electricity, atomic structure, forensic techniques, 3-D printing, and the lactate threshold. Presumably on the supposition that the characters will be more familiar to readers than the science, the minilectures tend to start from simple basics, but the figures are mostly both redrawn to look more childlike than in the comics and identified only in passing. Drawing styles and page designs differ from chapter to chapter but not enough to interrupt overall visual unity and flow—and the cast is sufficiently diverse to include roles for superheroes (and villains) of color like Cyborg, Kid Flash, and the Latina Green Lantern, Jessica Cruz. Appended lists of websites and science-based YouTube channels, plus instructions for homespun activities related to each episode, point inspired STEM-winders toward further discoveries.
Contentwise, an arbitrary assortment…but sure to draw fans of comics, of science, or of both. (Graphic nonfiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-77950-382-4
Page Count: 160
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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