Boxing is known as the sweet science, but the inventor of the Popsicle, might disagree.
Born in 1894, Frank William Epperson always seemed to know he wanted to be a great inventor when he grew up. He was an inquisitive young boy, always pondering big questions: “Do goldfish sleep? Do ants have ears? Do woodpeckers get headaches from pecking all day?” Frank’s back porch was his laboratory, where he “tinkered and tested. Analyzed and scrutinized.” When he was 10, he built a handcar with two handles and zipped around the neighborhood. But it was his interest in liquids, flavored soda waters in particular, that led to his great invention. One unusually cold San Francisco night in 1905, he left one of his drinks outside, and by morning it had frozen. “He had invented a frozen drink on a stick!” But it wasn’t until years later that the adult Epperson acted on the memory. He created a box in which he could freeze several test tubes filled with fruit juice and created the Ep-sicle to sell at shops, county fairs, and beaches. Pavlović’s exuberant mixed-media illustrations are the perfect complement to Renaud’s lively text. They even intersperse science experiments to help young readers understand the science behind Frank’s procedures. Epperson, his family, and his environs were white; the final double-page spread offers a diverse cast of characters united in their love of Epperson’s invention, now called Popsicles.
Sweet. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0028-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
Categories: CHILDREN'S BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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Rotner follows Hello Spring (2017) with this salute to the fall season.
Name a change seen in northern climes in fall, and Rotner likely covers it here, from plants, trees, and animals to the food we harvest: seeds are spread, the days grow shorter and cooler, the leaves change and fall (and are raked up and jumped in), some animals migrate, and many families celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving. As in the previous book, the photographs (presented in a variety of sizes and layouts, all clean) are the stars here, displaying both the myriad changes of the season and a multicultural array of children enjoying the outdoors in fall. These are set against white backgrounds that make the reddish-orange print pop. The text itself uses short sentences and some solid vocabulary (though “deep sleep” is used instead of “hibernate”) to teach readers the markers of autumn, though in the quest for simplicity, Rotner sacrifices some truth. In several cases, the addition of just a few words would have made the following oversimplified statements reflect reality: “Birds grow more feathers”; “Cranberries float and turn red.” Also, Rotner includes the statement “Bees store extra honey in their hives” on a page about animals going into deep sleep, implying that honeybees hibernate, which is false.
Bruce Goldstone’s Awesome Autumn (2012) is still the gold standard. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3869-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
Categories: CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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Sea otters are the key to healthy kelp forests on the Pacific coast of North America.
There have been several recent titles for older readers about the critical role sea otters play in the coastal Pacific ecosystem. This grand, green version presents it to even younger readers and listeners, using a two-level text and vivid illustrations. Biologist Buhrman-Deever opens as if she were telling a fairy tale: “On the Pacific coast of North America, where the ocean meets the shore, there are forests that have no trees.” The treelike forms are kelp, home to numerous creatures. Two spreads show this lush underwater jungle before its king, the sea otter, is introduced. A delicate balance allows this system to flourish, but there was a time that hunting upset this balance. The writer is careful to blame not the Indigenous peoples who had always hunted the area, but “new people.” In smaller print she explains that Russian explorations spurred the development of an international fur trade. Trueman paints the scene, concentrating on an otter family threatened by formidable harpoons from an abstractly rendered person in a small boat, with a sailing ship in the distance. “People do not always understand at first the changes they cause when they take too much.” Sea urchins take over; a page turn reveals a barren landscape. Happily, the story ends well when hunting stops and the otters return…and with them, the kelp forests.
A simple but effective look at a keystone species. (further information, select bibliography, additional resources) (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7636-8934-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
Categories: CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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