Review of The Periodic Table: Elements with Style!

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science 0

The Periodic Table

Elements with Style!

Created by Basher
written by Adrian Dingle

Kingfisher, New York, 2007. 128 pages.

Why is learning so much more fun when it’s done with cartoons? In this book, the elements introduce themselves, in groups, with cartoon pictures of the key elements. I found myself reading the whole thing, even though I took Chemistry so long ago, I don’t remember much of anything about it.

This is a fun introduction to the periodic table, told in a way that’s likely to stick!

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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

Review of Hatch! by Roxie Munro

Children's Nonfiction Review, Picture Book Review, Science 0

Hatch!

by Roxie Munro

Marshall Cavendish Children, 2011. 40 pages.

The title of this book definitely caught my eye! You see, my maiden name is Hatch. In fact, I decided that someone in my family who still bore the name would have to own this book, and I sent it to my sister for her birthday.

The book itself, besides its delightful name, is a nice introduction to various kinds of birds. It reminds me of The Bird Alphabet Book, by Jerry Pallotta, which my son spent hours looking over when he was small. It was one of the first picture books he memorized all the words to, we read it to him so many times. I can easily imagine a small child being just as fascinated with this book.

The format is a nice predictable one. First, some eggs are shown and the text tells some facts about the type of bird that laid them. The caption asks, “Can you guess whose eggs these are?” Older kids may well be able to guess some of them. Then, as you turn the page, you see the birds with a nest of hatchlings in their native habitat. The text tells the name of the birds and more interesting tidbits about them. On each habitat page, there is a list of several other critters “also on this page.” So it will give some fun to younger children to spot the other animals.

My one complaint with the book is that I wish the eggs were drawn to scale. The ostrich and hummingbird eggs are drawn at similar sizes. The description tells how big and how small they are, but I think it would be much more effective to show that. That might perhaps interfere with putting the text in an egg shape, but maybe in the initial drawing of the eggs, they could at least make them actual size.

Other than that little quibble, I think this book will set many children off on a fascination with birds. Interesting and beautifully done.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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

Review of Radioactive, by Lauren Redness

Biography, History, Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review, True Stories 0

Radioactive

Marie & Pierre Curie

A Tale of Love and Fallout

by Lauren Redniss

!t Books (HarperCollins), 2011. 205 pages.
Starred Review

This book is amazing, and like no book I’ve ever read before. It’s a biography, a record of love and scientific discovery, but it’s also a work of art.

There are striking images on almost every page. The artist used cyanotype printing, which she explains in a note at the back.

“Using this process to create the images in this book made sense to me for a number of reasons. First, the negative of an image gives an impression of an internal light, a sense of glowing that I felt captured what Marie Curie called radium’s ‘spontaneous luminosity.’ Indeed, the light that radium emits is a cyan-like, faint blue. Second, because photographic imaging was central to the discovery both of X-rays and of radioactivity, it seemed fitting to use a process based on the idea of exposure. Last, I later learned, Prussian blue capsules are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a “safe and effective” treatment for internal contamination by radioactive cesium and radioactive thallium. (After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, cyanotype ingredients were spread on the grass in North Wales to safeguard grazing animals.)”

The story told in the book is also fascinating. She tells how Marie met Pierre Curie and their progress in science together. She tells about Pierre Curie’s tragic death and Marie’s life afterward and continued distinguished work. Throughout the story, she provides images and clips and stories about things that happened with radioactivity later, such as Hiroshima, Three Mile Island, and Chernobyl.

I had no idea how radium was touted and marvelled over when it was first developed. The Curies did not patent their findings, but others were not so scrupulous.

“A fictitious Dr. Alfred Curie was hatched to shill Tho-Radia face cream. Radium-laced toothpaste, condoms, suppositories, chocolates, pillows, bath salts, and cigarettes were marketed as bestowers of longevity, virility, and an all-over salubrious flush.

“Radium was also touted as a replacement for electric lighting. Early electric light was both brilliant and blinding. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, ‘Such a light as this should shine only on murders and public crime, or along the corridors of lunatic asylums, a horror to heighten horror.’ Even after the development of softer, incandescent bulbs, some lamented that electric light would ‘never allow us to dream the dreams that the light of the living oil lamp conjured up.’ The fragile glow of radium, on the other hand, offered a retreat into forgiving shadows and candlelit intimacy. Radium let the wistful romantic pose as champion of scientific advance. A chemist named Sabin von Sochocky concocted a luminous goulash of radium and zinc sulphide, with dashes of lead, copper, uranium, manganese, thallium (a neurotoxin discovered by chemist and Spiritualist William Crookes), and arsenic, and sold it to the public as ‘Undark Paint.’ Undark was marketed for use on flashlights, doorbells, even ‘the buckles of bedroom slippers.’ ‘The time will doubtless come,’ von Sochocky declared, ‘when you will have in your own house a room lighted entirely by radium. The light thrown off by radium paint on walls and ceilings would in color and tone be like soft moonlight.'”

The story is fascinating and surprising. The images are stunning and memorable. This book is definitely not for children, but if it were, I would think this was a sure winner of the Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished picture book providing a visual experience. Spend a little time gazing at the pages of this book, and you will be amazed. Spend a little time reading the pages of this book, and you will be intrigued.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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

Review of I Dreamed of Flying Like a Bird, by Robert B. Haas

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

I Dreamed of Flying Like a Bird

My Adventures Photographing Wild Animals from a Helicopter

by Robert B. Haas

National Geographic, Washington, DC, 2010. 64 pages.
Starred Review

This book is a delight to look at. Robert Haas is an aerial photographer. In this book, he tells the story of getting his stunning images — and he also includes the images.

He tells about his methods; it sounds much more difficult than I ever would have guessed. He usually flies with the door off the helicopter and not one, but two, safety harnesses. It’s very cold up there with the door off, so he wears many layers of clothes.

In this book, he focuses on some images that have a story behind them, like the time he saw a herd of African buffalos being hunted by lions. Another time, he found a bear in Alaska just coming out of its den from a winter’s hibernation. He also does amazing photography of sea creatures, and once the pilot almost lost control right over a large group of sharks.

My favorite image, though, is the one that goes with this description:

“One of the most beautiful sights from the air is a large flock of flamingos moving around in shallow water. The flock forms one shape after another and leaves different patterns as it sweeps across the water. One time off the coast of Mexico, I came across a large flock of flamingos that changed its shape every few seconds, and I kept shooting and shooting for a very long time. And then, when I was just about to leave, I noticed something that was simply unbelievable — the hundreds of flamingos in the flock had actually formed the shape of a flamingo! I was able to capture that shot, and it has become one of my best known photos.”

I’m taking a class on the Caldecott Medal, and we have been discussing whether a photographer will ever win for the most distinguished picture book. I hope last year’s committee gave this book consideration, since the images are truly stunning. This book will be enjoyed and marvelled over by children and adults alike.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/flying_like_a_bird.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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

Review of Energy Island, by Allan Drummond

Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Picture Book Review, Science, True Stories 0

Energy Island

How One Community Harnessed the Wind and Changed Their World

by Allan Drummond

Frances Foster Books (Farrar Straus Giroux), New York, 2011. 36 pages.
Starred Review

Energy Island is a nonfiction picture book about an island in Denmark that uses only renewable energy generated on the island. The island is very windy, so wind power is a major source of energy on the island, and you can see the effects of the wind in all the illustrations and the repeated cry of “Hold on to your hats!”

The story is told well, beginning with the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy sending a teacher named Soren Hermansen to the island of Samso to try to help the island become independent of nonrenewable energy. The book shows the resistance to the idea, and then the small and large beginnings. A breakthrough happened when a storm knocked out the off-island sources of energy, but the wind turbines that had been installed on the island still provided power.

The inspiring story is told quite simply, with exuberant illustrations. Sidebars give more detailed explanations of the concepts involved for those who want to know more.

This isn’t necessarily a book for school projects, so I hope that it doesn’t get buried in the nonfiction section. I hope children find it, because it tells a beautiful, inspiring — and true — story.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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

Review of Balancing Act, by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Animal Characters, Good for the Very Young, Mathematical, Picture Book Review, Science 0

Balancing Act

by Ellen Stoll Walsh

Beach Lane Books (Simon & Schuster), New York, 2010. 32 pages.

Ellen Stoll Walsh is brilliant at explaining basic concepts to the very youngest readers. Her earlier book Mouse Paint is justifiably called “a modern classic,” demonstrating mice mixing colors in a simple, easily understandable way.

Balancing Act shows how balancing works in a way that even toddlers will be able to absorb. First, two mice balance on opposite ends of a stick. Then a lizard joins them, throwing off the balance — but when the lizard’s friend comes, balance is restored. Then comes a frog, and a friend.

When a big, heavy bird comes, it looks like their game is done — until all the other creatures get on the other side. That works great — until the stick breaks.

There are only a few words on each page, used in a way to captivate readers (“Uh-oh! A frog.”), so this book will work with the very youngest children, just beginning to understand that books tell a story.

Balance is a Math concept and a Science concept, but learning this concept is disguised in a lovely story with fun use of language that preschoolers will simply enjoy. A definite win!

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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

Review of Just the Right Size, by Nicola Davies

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Starred Review 0

Just the Right Size

Why Big Animals Are Big and Little Animals Are Little

by Nicola Davies
Illustrated by Neal Layton

Candlewick Press, 2009. 61 pages.
Starred Review

I think this book is so cool! It explains the math and geometry behind the sizes of living creatures in a way that is clear, easy to understand, and completely memorable.

Here’s the text on the opening page of the book:

“In comics and movies, superheroes zoom across the sky, run up wall, lift things as big as buses, and use their powers to fight giant monsters!

“It’s all very exciting, but it’s a complete load of nonsense. Real humans can’t fly, hang from the ceiling, or even lift things much bigger than themselves . . . and real giant animals couldn’t exist, since they wouldn’t be able to walk or breathe.

“In fact, there are very strict rules that control what bodies can and can’t do. These rules keep creatures from getting too big, and because of them the real superheroes are usually small — a lot smaller than humans.”

The basic rules she talks about come from the math of three-dimensional objects. If you double an object’s length, its cross-section will have an area four times bigger (since it’s squared), and its volume will be eight times bigger (since it’s cubed). The authors show this beautifully with plenty of illustrations.

Now I knew about this math, but I hadn’t thought about the repercussions in regard to living creatures.

They start by looking at flight. It’s easy for a fly to take off. But if you were to double the dimensions of a fly, suddenly its wings would be four times bigger. That’s a problem, because its volume is 8 times more, so it weighs eight times more than before, so the wings aren’t going to be big enough to get it airborne.

“This is why heavier insects, like dragonflies, need very big wings to get them off the ground, and birds need huge chest muscles and large, feather-covered wings.

“But wings and muscles can’t keep up with heavier and heavier bodies. That’s why really big birds like ostriches and emus can’t fly and walk instead, and why the only way humans can fly is with the help of engines.”

Next they look at insects that can walk on water and animals that can walk on the ceiling. This has to do with surface area related to volume. Again, if the surface area gets bigger, the volume gets bigger much faster.

This is also why we can’t lift buses. Our muscle strength depends on the cross-section size of our muscles, but weight depends on volume. A rhinoceros beetle can carry 850 times its own weight on its back, but humans sure can’t do that.

I love the author’s little story that illustrates why we can’t have mega-giants and giant spiders:

“Once upon a time there was a giant who was just like a normal human, only ten times bigger all over: ten times taller, wider, and deeper, making him one thousand times heavier. The giant took his first giant step, and with a giant crashing sound, both his legs snapped. The end. (And exactly the same thing happened to the giant’s best friend, the monster spider!)”

The illustrations accompanying this story are especially fun!

And so it goes. The book goes on to look at how you need room for enough internal organs to take care of the business of life, especially surface area in the lungs.

And there are more implications of size: Being able to stay warm, being able to digest things, being able to hide from predators, and so many more things.

The only down side to reading this? This book may dampen my ability to write fantasy stories about flying unicorns or dragons. But those are fantasy anyway, right?

With its clear explanations and fun cartoon illustrations, this book will make you look at the world with new eyes. A wonderful book for budding scientists, but also for anyone interested in the world around them — like me!

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/just_the_right_size.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

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

Review of The Frog Scientist, by Pamela S. Turner

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, Current Issues, Science, Starred Review, True Stories 1

The Frog Scientist

by Pamela S. Turner
Photographs by Andy Comins

Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, Boston, 2009. 58 pages.
Starred Review

Here’s a wonderful book that presents a real-life science experiment and a successful scientist to upper elementary through middle school kids. The stunning, colorful photographs, including many different species of frogs, all nicely labelled, would draw anyone into this book.

The book begins with Tyrone Hayes, the frog scientist, and a group of his graduate students, catching frogs from a pond in Wyoming. The pictures of this show a playful side of science!

As the book goes on, it explains in detail the scientific method and the specific experiment Tyrone is carrying out in order to see if the pesticide atrazine causes male frogs to produce eggs instead of sperm. Along the way, it tells about Tyrone and how he became a research scientist.

I love that Tyrone and his students come from many different ethnic backgrounds. It’s not commented on in the text, but you can see from the pictures that science is definitely not just for white males. I love that this is just assumed and not commented on. I love that kids from minority groups can see someone who looks like them successfully doing science.

But that’s by no means all there is to love about this book. As I said, the pictures will draw the reader in, and this is a nice accessible way to introduce the scientific method in an interesting, real-life experiment that could have repercussions regarding our own health.

The story is beautifully and clearly presented, and will give kids a good look at the job of a research scientist — one they might not have ever thought of before.

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Review of Never Smile at a Monkey, by Steve Jenkins

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science, Stand-outs 1

Never Smile at a Monkey

And 17 Other Important Things to Remember

by Steve Jenkins

Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2009. 32 pages.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #4 Children’s Nonfiction

I’m a huge fan of Steve Jenkins’ art work. He uses cut paper, and is able to make animals that to me look completely realistic. His textures mimic fur or scales or feathers so thoroughly you want to touch the soft-looking ones.

But you probably shouldn’t touch any of the animals in this book. Never Smile at a Monkey is essentially a list of 18 ways certain animals can kill you or severely hurt you.

For example, the author advises you never to harrass a hippo, jostle a jellyfish, or step on a stingray. All of those creatures are capable of killing human beings. Some of the animals in this book are dangerous in surprising ways.

This is definitely not a book for very young children who might be frightened. But certain school-age children will find these facts gruesomely interesting. And, as I said, the pictures are amazing.

And, by the way, why shouldn’t you smile at a monkey?

“If you smile at a rhesus monkey, it may interpret your show of teeth as an aggressive gesture and respond violently. Even a small monkey can give you a serious bite with its long, sharp fangs.”

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Review of Dogs and Cats, by Steve Jenkins

Children's Nonfiction Review, Science 0
dogs_and_cats.jpg 
Dogs and Cats

by Steve Jenkins


Reviewed February 5, 2008.
Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2007. 40 pages.

This book is a delight to read, if only for the amazing intricate detail of Steve Jenkins’ cut-paper illustrations. A Caldecott winner for Actual Size, his art work is stunningly life like.

This book features interesting facts about dogs on one half. Flip the book over to learn interesting facts about cats. The illustrations show many different breeds, types, and behaviors.

Anyone will enjoy browsing through this book. It’s a perfect way to intrigue an elementary-age child with the wonders of nonfiction.

This review is found on the main site at:

www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/dogs_and_cats.html