Review of Close Up & Far Out, by Mary Auld & Adria Meserve

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

Close Up and Far Out

Seeing the World Differently

story by Mary Auld and Adria Meserve
illustrations by Adria Meserve

Creative Editions, 2024. 40 pages.
Review written September 30, 2024, from a book sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review

This is a nonfiction picture book featuring Galileo Galilei, born in 1564, and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, born in 1632. What the two men had in common was they both revolutionized science by making lenses that revealed wonders people had never seen before. Galileo made telescopes that enabled people to view the wonders of the heavens, and Antonie made microscopes that showed people the wonders of bacteria.

I like the way the authors tell about the lives in parallel – first getting the idea, then making and perfecting the lenses, then discovering amazing things, then trying to convince others and being met with skepticism. Eventually, Galileo was brought to trial for his ideas, but Antonie gained scientific acceptance. Still, this line at the end points out a contrast:

Antonie died famous and is now almost forgotten; Galileo died in disgrace but is now one of those most famous scientists that ever lived. But both men have changed how we understand the world.

The book ends with lists of things that were discovered because of each man’s work, and then these words of wisdom:

Both Antonie and Galileo remind us to ask questions, to look close up and far out for the answers, to question what we find again and again – and to be brave enough to think differently.

This large and lovely book tells an interesting story, but also gives insight onto how scientific discovery can work.

thecreativecompany.us

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The History of the Computer, by Rachel Ignotofsky

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Science, Starred Review 0

The History of the Computer

People, Inventions, and Technology That Changed Our World

by Rachel Ignotofsky

Ten Speed Press, 2022. 128 pages.
Review written September 24, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

This is the second one of Rachel Ignotofsky’s books I’ve read, and I’m a fan. Both are compilations of a large amount of information in a visual way that doesn’t overwhelm you.

The spreads in this book are packed, but the information is compacted into panel-like segments. The book is not a graphic novel, but it borrows some graphic elements, sometimes sidebars, sometimmes diagrams, plenty of pictures, and even some speech bubbles. Even large paragraphs are given segments with headings, so you can read one section at a time.

The only problem with the graphic-novel-like format was that my first impression was that I could read it quickly. No, this book is packed with information, and it takes lots of time to absorb it. The advantage to the format, though, is that you can read a section or a spread at a time and easily pick it up later. I ended up picking this book up for multiple short stretches – and that was the perfect way to read it, with my interest captured every time.

And the information was so interesting. I worked as a computer programmer for my university as a college student in the 1980s, and my family was one of the first I knew of to have a home computer, a TRS-80. Oh, and my Dad brought home an old-fashioned modem in the 1970s. So – I’ve lived through a lot of the history of the computer, and it was very interesting to read about the bigger picture and many of the people behind different innovations – going far beyond Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.

Besides a straightforward history, the book also describes what’s inside a computer and goes back and looks at ancient counting systems and inventions like the abacus. The more modern chapters went from “Computers as Creative Tool, 1980-1989” to “The World Wide Web, 1990-2005” to “The All-in-One Device, 2006-Now.”

My only hope for this book is that it will get many updates. Although the part on “the future” only takes up a few pages, already in 2024 it feels like the prevalence of virtual meetings should be mentioned, as well as Chat GPT. But everything historical is very thorough, and presented in a fascinating way.

rachelignotofskydesign.com
tenspeed.com

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Review of Gross as a Snot Otter, by Jess Keating

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

Gross as a Snot Otter

Discovering the World’s Most Disgusting Animals

by Jess Keating
with illustrations by David DeGrand

Alfred A. Knopf, 2019. 44 pages.
Review written April 10, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

Jess Keating’s books from The World of Weird Animals series are the easiest books in the world to book talk! I used Pink Is for Blobfish back in 2016. I’d ordered Gross as a Snot Otter to booktalk this year, but didn’t actually get around to reading it until the library closed for the coronavirus. I was right! It will be perfect for booktalking. I hope I get the chance to do so at least next year! (Spoiler alert: this didn’t happen.)

All you have to do to intrigue kids with this book is open to a random page and read off the facts about the disgusting animal featured there. In some cases, the animals themselves aren’t as gross as a snot otter, but in those cases, they have some kind of disgusting habit.

Take herring, for example, who communicate with each other by farting. Or Siberian chipmunks, which gnaw on the flesh of dead snakes and rub it onto their bodies so they smell like the predator. Or Surinam toads, whose mothers incubate their eggs on their backs – growing skin over them. Later, up to 100 toadlets at a time come popping out of her back.

Each spread has a photograph of the gross animal on one side, then facts about the animal with a silly cartoon on the other, with more of an explanation of what’s gross about them. This book is a sure kid-pleaser and will arm them with a plethora of weird scientific facts about a wide variety of animals.

JessKeating.com
DeGrandLand.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Folding Tech, by Karen Latchana Kenney

Mathematical, Science, Starred Review, Teen Nonfiction 0

Folding Tech

Using Origami and Nature to Revolutionize Technology

by Karen Latchana Kenney

Twenty-First Century Books (Lerner), 2021. 104 pages.
Review written September 20, 2022, from a library book
2023 Mathical Book Prize Honor Book, Ages 11 to 18
Starred Review

Here’s a fascinating look at something I didn’t even realize was mathematical — origami. And the book explains how engineers and mathematicians studying origami have created some amazing and helpful technology.

The beginning talks about how there’s not much room in a spacecraft, but a large area is what’s needed for solar panels to power them. So in 1985, Koryo Miura proposed using an ancient folding pattern he’d studied to fit a solar array into a spacecraft. Japan launched such a craft in 1995.

Then the book talks about the long history of origami, particularly in Japan. But it’s been revived in modern times, and studying it mathematically has helped create intricate and beautiful patterns. And then when stiff materials are used instead of paper, engineers can create foldable structures easy to assemble and inexpensive to create.

Engineers also find folding in nature. I was fascinated by the way they studied how ladybugs fold their wings under their elytra (the red and black shell on top). In order to get a good look, they 3D printed a clear plastic elytra and replaced the ladybug’s own. Then they could see how the wings fold and unfold so quickly and neatly.

And there are so many uses for this technology! Besides outer space, there are even uses for tiny folds, including a foldable heart stent to go inside human arteries. There are also many uses in architecture and robots, and, really, the human imagination is the limit.

This book includes some origami designs the reader can try out. My one quibble is that I would have liked many more pictures. Some structures created using principles of origami were described in detail, and a picture would have helped visualize it. I read about a crushable beverage can with a diamond-shaped folding pattern and the Al Bahr Towers in Abu Dhabi that have a folding facade that changes shape in response to the sun. I would have liked to see pictures. Also, the James Webb telescope that made news recently as it began sending back photos of space did get a picture, but the only discussion of the folding that made that telescope possible was in the picture caption.

However, besides my little quibble (I just wanted more), this book is packed with fascinating information. My eyes are opened now, and I know I’m going to notice more folds, both in nature and in technology. A section at the end tells kids how they can pursue the path toward becoming an origami professional.

latchanakenney.wordpress.com
lernerbooks.com

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of Bei Bei Goes Home, by Cheryl Bardoe

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Stand-outs 0

Bei Bei Goes Home

A Panda Story

by Cheryl Bardoe

Smithsonian Kids (Candlewick Entertainment), 2021. 44 pages.
Review written March 5, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

The only thing cuter than a book full of photographs of pandas is one full of photos of a baby panda. Bei Bei Goes Home tells the story of the giant panda born at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, in August 2015.

Who knew that a giant pandas are minuscule at birth? The pictures of mother Mei Xiang cradling the tiny baby emphasize how tiny Bei Bei was as a cub. The reader gets the whole story of his birth, keeping him healthy (had to wait until Mei Xiang put him down for a minute), choosing his name, getting vaccinated, learning to get around and play.

At one year old, they had a traditional Chinese ceremony and Bei Bei chose luck and friendship to represent his future. In multiple photographs on every spread, we see Bei Bei exploring his habitat, playing with toys, and growing quickly.

Then, as referred to in the title, at four years old, we see Bei Bei shipped to China.

Where Bei Bei lives now is part of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. Researchers there hope to raise panda cubs who can succeed in the wild. Bei Bei cannot do this himself because he is too comfortable around humans. Keepers in China have begun donning panda costumes to help raise cubs who will be released into the wild. After Bei Bei is fully mature, around six or seven years, he may become the father to such a cub.

This is a book to enjoy looking at, and you’ll pick up plenty of information about giant pandas along the way.

candlewick.com

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Review of How to Find a Fox, written by Kate Gardner, photographs by Ossi Saarinen

Children's Nonfiction Review, Good for the Very Young, Science, Starred Review 0

How to Find a Fox

written by Kate Gardner
photographs by Ossi Saarinen

Running Press Kids (Hachette), 2021. 48 pages.
Review written November 29, 2021, from a library book.
Starred Review

Here’s a wonderful first science book for little ones. The big, beautiful photographs, mostly of foxes in the wild, steal the show.

There’s a short and simple text in big letters. It begins by talking about where you can look to find a fox. There’s a paragraph in smaller text on most pages, giving some more background information.

For example, after pages saying “Listen for yips, yowls, and growls,” we’ve got this text in a smaller font:

Red foxes make a range of noises, though none of them sound much like a common dog’s barking. Instead, foxes’ high-pitched howls, chirps, and screams are more birdlike. . . . And sometimes, a fox can even sound like a person crying. Different calls are used when playing, or fighting, or when fox parents want to warn their babies of danger.

The photos are big, colorful, and striking. I am so taken with this book, I want to try it in Toddler Storytime, as I think the photos can catch even their attention. They will like the pages that tell you where not to look for a fox, and name the animals found in the sky, in the trees, in the river, and in the pond.

runningpress.com/rpkids

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Review of How Old Is a Whale? by Lily Murray, illustrated by Jesse Hodgson

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science 0

How Old Is a Whale?

Animal Life Spans from the Mayfly to the Immortal Jellyfish

by Lily Murray
illustrated by Jesse Hodgson

Big Picture Press (Candlewick), 2023. First published in the United Kingdom in 2022. 64 pages.
Review written April 22, 2024, from a library book.

Here’s an oversized awesome-for-poring-over children’s cool animal facts book that looks at them from the perspective of how long do these creatures live? The subtitle gives away the beginning (Mayfly: 5 minutes to 24 hours) and ending (Immortal jellyfish: Immortal, in a manner of speaking) creatures. In between, there are 25 others, including the Monarch Butterfly (2 weeks to 8 months), Periodical Cicada (17 years), Trapdoor Spider (Female: 20 to 40 years; Male: 5 to 7 years), Echidna (45 years), Orange Roughy (100+ years), and Glass Sponge (11,000 years). Each creature is featured in a page or spread with lots of interesting facts about them and about their lifespan.

Here was an interesting fact I hadn’t known:

At birth, all mammals (other than humans) have the same lifetime supply of heartbeats: a limit of around one billion. Smaller mammals tend to live shorter lives than larger mammals because their hearts beat more quickly. This is particularly true of the Etruscan shrew, one of the world’s smallest mammals, which burns through its heartbeats at a furious rate of up to 1,500 beats per minute.

I was also alerted to the impact of lifespan on conservation in the text about the Orange Roughy fish, whose lifespan is over 100 years long:

They take at least twenty years to mature, grow very slowly, and do not breed every year. It is this slow-paced life that has made them so vulnerable to overfishing. It was once thought that orange roughy only lived for thirty years, and it was presumed they would cope with being fished in huge numbers, with their populations recovering quickly. Instead, their numbers crashed. Even in places where fishing for orange roughy has been restricted, it will take fifty years or more for the population of these remarkably long-lived fish to recover.

We’ve all known the kid who likes collecting interesting facts about unusual animals. This book will satisfy any such appetite.

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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Review of The Bug Girl, by Sophia Spencer with Margaret McNamara, illustrated by Kerascoët

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

The Bug Girl

(A True Story)

by the Bug Girl herself, Sophia Spencer,
with Margaret McNamara
illustrated by Kerascoët

Schwartz & Wade Books, 2020, 40 pages.
Starred Review
Review written 02/20/2020 from a library book

This picture book is written in the voice of the author, who is a fourth-grade student – and does a marvelous job of telling other kids that it’s okay to love bugs.

Sophia begins with her first encounter with a bug – when she was two years old, in a butterfly conservatory, one butterfly landed on her and decided to stay the whole time she walked around the conservatory.

After that, Sophia became obsessed with bugs. She got books and videos about them and learned all she could about them. She collected bugs, and her mom let her keep them out on the porch.

In Kindergarten, other kids thought Sophia’s obsession with bugs was cool. But that changed when she got to first grade. Now they started teasing her and calling her weird. There’s a very sad page in that section:

Then I brought a grasshopper to school. I thought the kids would be so amazed by the grasshopper that they’d want to know all about it. But they didn’t. A bunch of kids crowded around me and made fun of me.

“Sophia’s being weird again,” one of them said.

“Ew! Gross!” said another. “Get rid of it!”

Then they knocked that beautiful grasshopper off my shoulder and stomped on it till it was dead.

Sophia became afraid to talk about the bugs she loved. She continued to be teased and excluded at school and called weird. She thought she’d have to give up her passion.

But Sophia’s mother was sad to see her so unhappy.

She wrote an email to a group of entomologists asking for one of them to be my “bug pal.” She wanted me to hear from an expert that it was not weird or strange to love bugs and insects. “Maybe somebody will write back,” said my mom.

“Maybe,” I said.

“Or at least call.”

We thought those scientists would be too busy to respond.

But an email came from an entomologist named Morgan Jackson who asked to put the letter online.

He asked other bug scientists – all around the world – to let me know if they had any advice for a girl who loves bugs.

That set off a flood of responses, with a hashtag: #BugsR4Girls

I couldn’t believe how many people around the world loved bugs as much as I did. And how many of them were grown-up women!

Some were scientists who wrote about the work they do in their labs. Others shared videos of themselves with bugs on their arms and sent pictures of themselves hunting bugs in the wild.

The response also set off more publicity of its own – Sophia got interviewed by newspaper reporters and even appeared on television.

Now, as a fourth-grader, Sophia has many other interests, but she still loves bugs.

This picture book presents all this in a child-friendly way with bright pictures and simple text. At the back are six pages of cool bug facts from Sophia.

margaretmcnamara.net
rhcbooks.com

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of The Superpower Field Guide: Ostriches, by Rachel Poliquin, illustrated by Nicholas John Frith

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

The Superpower Field Guide

Osriches

by Rachel Poliquin
illustrated by Nicholas John Frith

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019. 96 pages.
Review written April 23, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

This is the second Superpower Field Guide, and I just put the first one written, Beavers on hold. These are some of the most entertaining books about animals I’ve ever read.

The tone is conversational, directly addressing the reader. Although the writer includes scientific terms, she starts out with kid-friendly descriptions, so it’s all easier to understand.

To give you an example, here she is talking about Superpower #7, the Impossible Ever-Flow Lung:

First, bird lungs aren’t balloons. They are stiff tubes. The fancy word for these tubes is parabronchi, but I’ll just call them tubes. At either end, these tubes are connected to balloons – seven to twelve in total, depending on the bird. Ostriches have ten. These balloons take up about a fifth of the space in a bird’s body – that’s a lot! They squeeze around a bird’s organs; some are even inside its hollow bones.

Now, bird balloons are part of the whole lung system, but they are not actually lungs. And they are not made from millions of tiny alveoli like your lungs. They are just basic balloons. They all have names, but I’ll keep it simple. I’ll divide them into two balloon teams: TEAM FRESH and TEAM STALE.

What follow is an explanation, with diagrams, of how breathing works for ostriches (and other birds) so that fresh air is always flowing through their lungs, whether they’re breathing in or out – an amazing fact that I certainly didn’t know before reading this book.

Rachel Poliquin is good at making amazing facts about animals sound amazing. That’s the whole focus of the Superpower Field Guides. The superpowers she attributes to ostriches are: Colossal Orbs of Telescopic Vision, Thighs of Thunder, Toe Claws of Death, Super-fantastic Elastic Striders, Two-toed Torpedoes, Do-it-all Dino Flaps, the Impossible Ever-Flowing Lung, Epic Endurance, the Egg of Wonder, and the Hydro-hoarding Heat Shield.

Reading these books, you do realize how surprising some of these abilities truly are. These are the kinds of books I want to read more of because they’re so interesting, and I have no doubt they’ll have the same effect on kids.

rachelpoliquin.com
nicholasjohnfrith.com
hmhco.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of Nature’s Ninja, by Rebecca L. Johnson

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

Nature’s Ninja

Animals with Spectacular Skills

by Rebecca L. Johnson

Millbrook Press, 2020. 48 pages.
Review written May 1, 2020, from a library book
Starred Review

This book was made to be booktalked to elementary age kids! I wish we were doing in-person booktalks this year, but I’m going to make a note to myself to be sure to include this book next year.

The book presents nine ninja skills, with their Japanese names, and then nine animals that demonstrate those skills in amazing ways.

I also want to say that books about animals with strange characteristics are a booktalking staple, but I hadn’t heard about any of these abilities before, except maybe the sticky feet of the gecko – but I didn’t know why they are so sticky, or about their microscopic suction cups.

The most striking skill to me was the same one the author said prompted her to write the book — shuriken-jutsu, Ninja throwing stars. It turns out that the collector sea urchin throws small parts of itself at predators. They’re shaped like mini-throwing stars, and they open and close their jaws to bite a would-be attacker.

Other animal ninjas include the sailfish with its sword-wielding skills, the alkali fly and its ability to stay dry underwater, ground spiders with their abilities to throw web silk to attack, and fish-scale geckos that easily escape by releasing their scales and skin.

Each chapter features a ninja skill and an animal or animals that demonstrate the skill. Then in “The Science Behind the Story,” we learn how scientists discovered this animal’s amazing abilities.

This book is short at only 48 pages, but it packs a lot of surprising science.

rebeccajohnsonbooks.com
lernerbooks.com

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.