Children's Books discussion
Fiction Club
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May, June, July and August 2023 -- STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
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After rather totally stalling and generally feeling mostly massively annoyed with the narrative flow of the anonymous English language translation of Thea Beckman's 1973 time travel novel Kruistocht in spijkerbroek (Crusade in Jeans) when I was trying to read the latter about nine or so years ago and became increasingly frustrated with and by how everything in the English rendition seems to feel distractingly distant and that the text also moves along at best awkwardly and very often feeling like one is actually reading not just a translation but yes indeed a painfully slow literal word-for-word rendition of Thea Beckman's Dutch original into English, I decided to try the novel in German (to see if Kreuzzug in Jeans and Helmut Goeb's translation would be a better and more enjoyable reading fit for me).
And yes indeed, Kreuzzug in Jeans is in my humble opinion very much vastly superior translation-wise to Crusade in Jeans. For while I have had some issues with Thea Beckman's general themes and attitudes (as they are presented in Kruistocht in spijkerbroek), Helmut Goeb's translation has definitely felt to and for me as though I am reading not just a rendering from Dutch to German but a well written, readable and relatable story in and of itself (and indeed, I have also been able to actually and in fact both finish and appreciate Kreuzzug in Jeans, whereas the writing style and pacing of Crusade in Jeans turned me off to such an extent that I ended up not even being able to complete the latter before Crusade in Jeans needed to go back to my local library's interlibrary loan department and I have also never felt like making a further request for it).
However and that having been said (and while Kreuzzug in Jeans has certainly and generally been a very much enjoyable personal reading experience), I also have to admit (as already alluded to above) that some of the thematics and contents of Kreuzzug in Jeans (and by extension also and of course Thea Beckman's Dutch original of Kruistocht in spijkerbroek) make me both a bit uncomfortable and also a bit annoyed from a historic reality point of view. And no, it is actually not so much the cases of anachronisms present in Kruistocht in spijkerbroek (and its translations) that tend to bother me (although indeed they can be a trifle frustrating), as my main issue is with the in the novel generally presented and featured attitude of supposed superiority of the 20th century and that main protagonist Rolf is somehow and far too often placed on some almost unassailable golden pedestal (that he is the almost pre-ordained leader of the children's crusade and not so much due to his personality or his learned skills but simply because at least in my opinion, according to the author, according to Thea Beckman, Rolf is a saviour type and a hero, someone who is basically often all-knowing due to the simple fact that he has time traveled into the Middle Ages from the 20th century and that conversely, Niclas/Nicholas, the original "leader" of the children's crusade, is simply not leadership material because he is both of the Middle Ages and well, also just a peasant, just an animal herder and easily duped by the false monks because of this).
And while yes, I have appreciated reading about Thea Beckman's (and by extension translator Helmut Goeb's) vision of the Middle Ages in Kreuzzug in Jeans and do very much appreciate that the inhabitants presented are generally depicted as not just dirty and unhygienic subhumans, personally I do very much kind of chafe at how glowingly positive and often very much superior to basically almost everyone Rolf is often portrayed within the pages of Kreuzzug in Jeans (probably a symptom and sign of what I tend to label as in particular 1970s optimism of the 20th century being a time of and for advancement and as such much better in and of itself than previous, than prior centuries, but as a 21st century reader that kind of an often holier and better than thou attitude and viewpoint can and does get a trifle frustrating and stale and makes especially Rolf at times appear as much too good to be true), not to mention that I also have found that entire scenario of Rolf meeting up with Leonardo Fibonacci as a student and actually teaching him Arabic numbers a trifle groan-worthy (because it sure makes it seem as though Thea Beckman is basically kind of claiming that the Middle Ages need rescuing and help from the present and that a famous mathematician like Leonardo Fibonacci can only obtain the mathematical knowledge for which he is famous from a time travelling 20th century teenaged boy, and sorry, that kind of makes me think of Erich von Däniken's worldview that great civilisations such as the Incas supposedly needed aliens to teach them how to thrive and become advanced).
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While I most certainly already was well aware of the fact that crows (and other corvids like ravens, rooks and magpies) are very intelligent (and are in fact along with parrots considered the smartest and most clever members of aves, of the class of birds), I really did not know that crows, but in particular that the crow species of New Caledonia (an island chain north of New Zealand and east of Australia) not only make use of tools for their food collection (for feeding themselves), but actually tend to construct and build their own tools (and alongside of human beings, alongside of us, are the ONLY animal species that has so far been discovered to fabricate hooked tools). Penned in an easy to understand and (at times even) entertainingly humorous (but also always factual and never in any way overly silly or artificial) manner of expression and delivery, Pamela S. Turner describes in Crow Smarts: Inside the Brain of the World's Brightest Bird all that there really is to know (and all that has so far been discovered) with regard to the amazing crows of New Caledonia, but of course first and foremost, their tool use and tool construction (and that this tool use is in no way instinctive but learned and taught behaviour from parents to their brood, to their offspring, very much like it is with humans and our many primate cousins).
And while I have to admit that once or twice I did slightly cringe at some of these New Caledonian crows being captured for scientific study and observation, I also very much realise that it was and remains a scientific necessity to do this in order to show and tell both the public and the rest of the scientific community that the crows of New Caledonia are indeed supremely intelligent and yes, also very much human-like with their tool fabrication, tool utilisation, and how parents teach this habit, these skills to their chicks, to their offspring. For while studying these crows in the wild would of course usually be preferable (and in fact has occurred and does occur), it is certainly not as easy as the detailed and meticulous observation and testing of captured individual birds and is also and importantly rather less potentially environmentally and ecologically interfering, which is in my opinion very much essential, considering how ecologically fragile (and unique) an ecosystem New Caledonia has (an island chain isolated for tens of millions of years that has had its issues with invasive species, including humans, human-caused disease and non endemic animals such as rats, cats and the the like wreaking potential havoc). And really, from the presented narrative, it rapidly becomes more than clear that the new Caledonian crows that have been captured for observation and testing have for one always been approached and tested/observed in a very much bird/animal friendly manner and for two, have also all been released back into the wild once the testing and scientific experimenting has been completed (and oh boy, does it ever and sweetly, folklorically, culturally tickle my fancy that two of the New Caledonian crows being tested have been named Hugin and Munin, after the Norse God Odin's all-knowing, wise and philosophical ravens).
Perfect for both at home and in-class use, and I would warmly and strongly recommend Crow Smarts: Inside the Brain of the World's Brightest Bird to and for older children above the age nine or ten (as well as to and for adults, as there really is no upper limit here) with Andy Comins' accompanying photographs, as well as the ask-the-author section, the detailed and expansive academically sound selected bibliography and well-organised subject index being much appreciated added bonuses (and especially the bibliography truly does stand out and much increase the teaching, learning and research value of Crow Smarts: Inside the Brain of the World's Brightest Bird, especially for teachers who might want to use the book in class and desire additional information). Five stars, and truly what I would humbly consider an in all ways perfect science (biology) book for the junior market!
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During a family vacation in Wyoming, thirteen year old Spinner Shafter (who at the beginning of Jean Craighead George's Hook a Fish, Catch a Mountain is a real city slicker and from New York City at that) catches a huge cutthroat trout, winning her family's treasured and much coveted fishing trophy (making her father intensely proud, but also causing both consternation and some jealousy amongst her cousins, who have been fishing and striving for said very trophy since toddlerhood). Because cutthroats specifically are supposed to be nearly extinct in the Snake River system, Spinner and her slightly older cousin Al (or Alligator) decide set out on a wilderness trek to discover why this one gigantic specimen was able to both survive and thrive (a bit of a giant step for Spinner who, unlike her cousin, has never hiked or camped out in the so-called back country).
Spinner and Al end up not only solving the mystery of how that one gigantic cutthroat trout did survive and reach such epic proportions, they also manage to discover what has been causing the disastrous decline of cutthroat trouts in the river in the first place (and it is not something that is natural, but man-made). And in the process, Spinner transforms herself from an in all or at least most ways urbanite (who originally cared more about her ballet lessons, pretty clothing and looking and acting like a delicate snowflake) to an almost tomboyish teenager with a sense of active purpose (and that sense of purpose is no longer simply her ballet lessons and city life, but first and foremost protecting the environment from human over-encroachment). Spinner's father might well consider that when she cuts off her long hair, he has lost his "little girl" but to and for Spinner, this final act of liberation is the culmination of her transformation, and her emergence as a new and more mature, increasingly confident and purposeful individual. Warmly and highly recommended, Catch a Fish, Hook a Mountain is a both engaging and adventure-full read (but with the caveat that the environmental messages presented especially against clear cutting, while personally loved and much appreciated, are indeed rather overt and obvious, heavy duty, and that the fishing scenes, as well as the fact that Spinner's father decides to have the fish she caught stuffed and mounted might well be a bit difficult and even unacceptable to vegetation or vegan readers).
Interestingly enough, I first read Catch a Fish, Hook a Mountain in German translation (as Angle dir einen Berg) in 1978 when I was twelve years old and had been in Canada for but two years. It was received in the mail as a delightful birthday gift from my maternal grandmother and appreciated specifically both because I was even at the age of twelve already much interested in environmental protection and conservation and also because I was at that particular time rather majorly desperate to read a newer German language children's literature book, having repeatedly perused ALL of the German language books I had taken or rather had been permitted to take along when we immigrated to Canada in 1976, and thus being, having become, of course, more than a bit bored with and by them (and I actually did not realise until much later that the book I had received as a birthday gift from Germany had actually originally been penned, been written in English, that I was, in fact, reading a translation).
And I have to univocally state that personally (and yes, more than a bit surprisingly), I actually and definitely do rather and even now much prefer especially the narrative flow and general cadence of Friedl Hofbauer's German translation to Jean Craighhead George's original. Maybe this preference is (or could be) partially or even primarily due to nostalgia (and fond remembrances). However, I have (and recently) actually reread both Catch a Fish, Hook a Mountain and Angle dir einen Berg and I still do tend to consider that at least for me, the German translation has an immediacy and emotionality that is somewhat lacking (and more subdued) in the English original, making Catch a Fish, Hook a Mountain (making Jean Chraighead George's original text) both feel and read with considerably less emotionality and sense of adventure than what is offered, than what is presented in and by Friedl Hofbauer's translation, than in Angle dir einen Berg.
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While each chapter heading of Joyce Sidman's The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Marian's Art Changed Science features one of Sidman's signature (and as usual quite simply exquisite and magical) poems, I for one did not even really notice them all that much at first (simply because I was and yes remain so enchanted and delighted with and by the main narrartive, with the author's concise, readable and massively enlighteninging biography of Maria Sibylla Merian, a German artist of the latter 17th and early 18th century, who is now considered by many to likely also have been one of the first entymologists and ecologists).
Accompanied by an absolute treasure trove of Maria Sibylla Merian's signature, detailed artwork of moths, butterflies, flowers, trees and the like, as well as additional historical and cultural information on topics as diverse as the witch crazes in Europe from 1450-1750, the first museums, moth versus butterfly, slavery in Surinam etc., The Girl Who Drew Butterflies focusses on the main and essential points of Merian's life (from her childhood in Frankfurt to her solo travels with her daughter Dorothea to the Dutch colony of Surinam), presenting a both interesting and always engaging, approachable account (suitable for older children from about the age of eleven or so, but really, also of much potential interest to and for adults, especially since while in Europe, and especially in Germany, Maria Sibylla Merian's legacy and artwork are pretty well known now, this has not really and unfortunately all that much been the case in especially North America). Highly recommended (with the detailed bibliographical information, timelines and source acknowledgements being appreciated added bonuses, and indeed, the only reason, I am ranking The Girl Who Drew Butterflies with four stars instead of five stars is that the blurb regarding the witch crazes in Europe is in my opinion rather misleading, as Joyce Sidman seems to claim and insinuate with her words that this was only or at least mostly a phenomenon in Germany, which is patently untrue, as the rampant fear of witchcraft, sorcery and its resulting inquisitions were equally present in areas of France, Switzerland, Austria etc., that it was a pan-European and not just a German scenario).
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Although the subject matter of Jean Craighead George's One Day in the Woods is both interesting and informative, I very much do consider the general plot, I find the author's narrative style as a whole more than a trifle too textbook-like for my personal tastes, at times even bordering on being much too wordy, too descriptive, too minutely detailed for an illustrated chapter book supposedly geared towards recently independent readers (and while I do not want to call the text tedious, some parts of One Day in the Woodsabsolutely and frustratingly seem somewhat if not even rather majorly mundane and dragging for and to me, especially the constant mentions of the specific times of the day and calendar date, which kind of makes me groan a bit truth be told). And considering that I have always had a rather short attention span and am quite easily distracted, I actually have often felt myself drifting right out of the narrative (and I do indeed wonder whether children, but especially whether recently independent readers or children with an equally short attention span as I tend to have might well experience a similar scenario, especially if they are not all that interested in ecology in the first place, have just a passing, remote fancy or a recently developing, budding curiosity about nature) as throughout One Day in the Wood's sixty odd pages, it sure does seem as though Jean Craighead George often just bombards the reader with information upon information regarding ecology, nature, wildlife. And it certainly also feels rather more like I am reading a detailed science textbook than a real and true story, a tale, like I am being presented with a textbook filled with lists, explanations, academic digressions (and the constant barrage of information, while definitely of interest to me, does tend to become somewhat of a chore to read, process and appreciate, especially since with One Day in the Woods, I for one was expecting more fiction than non fiction, was expecting an engaging story and not a science lesson).
Now I do believe that One Day in the Woods could be a great book to use in an elementary or middle school science classroom (as an easy-to-understand textbook or as an adjunct to a more detailed, longer science tome). In a classroom setting (or for homeschooling parents), One Day in the Woods could very likely be a hit with students and make the subject of ecology more approachable than a longer, more involved textbook could/would. And the fact that the author has also listed a number of bibliographical references is not only an added bonus, it enhances the teaching and learning potential of One Day in the Woods (allowing for additional reading and research by both potential students and teachers). However, for simple pleasure reading, I think that unless a young reader is intensely interested in ecology, One Day in the Woods just might be a bit too wordy and too filled-to-the-core with facts upon facts to be an absolute reading joy. And finally, the accompanying black-and-white illustrations by Gary Allen, while they are indeed lovely and descriptive, for me, they still do present more of a decorative trim than an integral part of the narrative (although I really do enjoy his depiction of the flying squirrel, as its huge eyes can be used to point out that mainly nocturnal animals often have much larger eyes in order to be able to see better at night). I think that Gary Allen's illustrations do add a certain something, but I also believe that One Day in the Woods would still be an informative read without the illustrations (they somewhat augment the story, but are not actually necessary for the book's printed words, for its scientific, biologic information to be appreciated).
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Engagingly, enlighteningly but always also humorously and entertainingly recounted (and graced by John O'Brien's fun but really never too in-one's face and interfering accompanying panel like illustrations) with both basic and much supplemental informational details on of the presented, on each of the featured inventions, Charlotte Foltz Jones' Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions & How They Came to Be shows a versatile, varied combination of forty common household objects, medicines and other innovations that emerged, that came into being either by mistake or by accident (and with the latter in mind, I personally would not be using the title Mistakes That Worked, as while many of the examined creations like fudge, scotch guard, post-it notes etc. were indeed due to actual manufacturing mishaps, many of the inventions definitely came into being more because of plain and simple serendipity and others, like the eponymous sandwich due to inventive imagination and human ingenuity, because the Earl of Sandwich wanted to be able to continue eating whilst still engaging in his penchant for gambling, or potato chips owning their emergence because of a chef getting annoyed at a patron constantly wanting thinner potato slices and actually creating the chips to deliberately annoy said patron, who though loved them and kept asking for more). Combined with that which is so important and essential to and for me with regard to a decent and useable non fiction tome for children (for older children above the age of eight or nine), namely a select but extensive bibliography as well as an appreciated index, Mistakes That Worked: 40 Familiar Inventions & How They Came to Be is pretty well a near perfect combination of specific historic, scientific, cultural details and so-called fun and entertaining little factoids (never tedious, always engaging, and yes, most importantly, also presenting such important and essential nuggets of knowledge that for instance aspirin should not be taken by individuals younger than sixteen years of age due to its links to Reye's syndrome and that appreciatively, Charlotte Foltz Jones also points out essential health and safety measures for children using the kitchen, such as being careful and prudent with regard to utilising utensils, appliances and such, following recipes and yes, always having proper adult supervision when cooking).
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Didier Cornille's (author and illustrator) and Yolanda Stern Broad's (translator) Who Built That? Bridges: An Introduction to Ten Great Bridges and Their Designers (the French language original title being Tous les ponts sont dans la nature) is interesting, exceedingly educational, evocatively readable and thankfully also not generally replete with too much architectural and construction specific jargon, making this book while perhaps not necessarily suitable and interesting to and for very young toddlers also something for parents, caregivers, teachers to consider sharing with construction and building interested younger children who are not as yet independent readers. For if one were to read Who Built That? Bridges: An Introduction to Ten Great Bridges and Their Designers with or to children, kept the readings to manageable chunks of information and did not attempt to read the entire ninety odd pages at once (which is very easily accomplished, as there are, indeed, ten specific chapters for each of the ten featured bridges), Who Built That? Bridges: An Introduction to Ten Great Bridges and Their Designers could, in my opinion and indeed prove a delightful, pleasurable, as well as enlightening reading or perhaps listening (learning) experience, as both presented narrative and accompanying illustrations are in my humble opinion perfectly suited to one another, with the author's (and by extension of course also the translator's) detailed but simply delineated and well organised printed words equally complimented by accompanying images that are delightful, visually detailed, often actually even somewhat resembling bona-fide construction and building (architect) blueprints (with the small caveat that Who Built That? Bridges: An Introduction to Ten Great Bridges and Their Designers is meant to be read upside-down so to speak, with the spine of the book on top, a bit annoying and difficult perhaps, but really and truly the only way to adequately and visually depict the featured bridges).
Highly recommended, and the one main and sadly unfortunate reason that my ranking is only three stars is that for me personally, the fact that Who Built That? Bridges: An Introduction to Ten Great Bridges and Their Designers includes NO biographical information whatsoever, no list of books for further study and research, is simply too much of a serious academic shortcoming to be in any manner ignored (as the fact that Who Built That? Bridges: An Introduction to Ten Great Bridges and Their Designers is indeed completely non-fictional, is therefore based on historical facts, on realities and thus also on the author's, on Didier Cornille's own research, at least for and to me, this makes biographical lists and source citations not just desirable but in fact absolutely intellectually necessary).
Mod
Although Didier Cornille's picture book on skyscrapers (Who Built That? Skyscrapers: An Introduction to Skyscrapers and Their Architects, originally published in French as Toutes les gratte-ciels sont dans la nature) is set up and conceptualised both narrationally and illustratively in pretty much the same manner as his tomes on bridges and modern houses, I do have to admit that I for one have found Who Built That?: Skyscrapers: An Introduction to Skyscrapers and Their Architects not nearly as enjoyable and as readable as the latter two (which I both appreciated and indeed also perused with very much pleasure and personal engagement), mostly due to the fact that aside from the first inclusion, aside from Gustave Eiffel's famous 1889 Paris, France, tower, skyscrapers do not really all that much interest me at the best of times and if truth be told, I also often do tend to find the majority of them aesthetically unpleasant (and at times even an affront to nature itself).
But that all having been said, I do still find Who Built That?: Skyscrapers: An Introduction to Skyscrapers and Their Architects engaging enough to a certain point and level, and especially Didier Cornille's blueprint like and always crystal clear accompanying architectural illustrations are both successfully rendered and very much educational and enlightening. However, considering my own and personal lack of interest regarding and actual occasional aversion to the entire concept of skyscrapers, it would have taken both a truly superb and spectacular authorial narrative (with not only general architectural details but also sufficient personal and biographical information on the presented architects and thus not just focused on their creations, their skyscrapers, their buildings), as well as a list of sources and supplemental suggestions for further reading (in other words a decent bibliography) for me to have rated this book, for me to have considered Who Built That? Skyscrapers: An Introduction to Skyscrapers and Their Architects with three stars or more (and as that has most definitely and in my opinion unfortunately not at all been the case here, my ranking for Who Built That? Skyscrapers: An Introduction to Skyscrapers and Their Architects will be a high two stars at best, as I am for one, as already pointed out, not really personally interested enough in and enamoured enough of skyscrapers in and of themselves and for two, the rather woeful lack of biographical, of life story information on the eight featured architects combined with there being no bibliographical information included whatsoever, well that really does always majorly bother me and grate with regard to completely non fiction offerings).
Mod
Although Didier Cornille's Modern Houses: Who Built That?: An Introduction to the Modern House and Their Architects is narrationally and illustratively set up in very much the same fashion as his book on bridges (with even the original French language titles being almost verbatim, except that of course, in this here case, modern houses and not bridges are being described), for Modern Houses: Who Built That?: An Introduction to the Modern House and Their Architects, it unfortunately does not indicate whether Yolanda Stern Broad has once again acted as translator (and while indeed this perhaps could more than likely be the case, I cannot at all be sure and thus do not really want to speculate all too much).
Conceptualised as an introduction to modern houses and the architects who designed them, who had them built (usually for clients, but there are also a few examples of architects designing for their own and private use), from the 1924 Schröder House by Gerrit Rietveld (where especially inside, everything is movable) to Sarah Wigglesworth's and Jeremy Till's 2002 Straw House (a truly "green house" in London, England), with Modern Houses: Who Built That?: An Introduction to the Modern House and Their Architects, author/illustrator Didier Cornille engagingly presents ten famous, ten internationally known modern domiciles and their respective designers (including of course Frank Lloyd Wright's famous Fallingwater and Mies Van der Rohe's minimalist Farnsworth House, but for me personally a bit frustrating and sadly, ignoring Austrian architect/artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and his colourful houses and apartment blocks, which I for one have always admired, considering how against the so-called straight line they are, with their curves, with their external structures that actually seem to work design-wise when one really wonders how they ever could and should).
Textually dense but nevertheless penned in a simple and therefore always easy to understand and comprehend syntactic style, each of the ten example houses is briefly described (why and especially how each of them was built, as well as how they appear both on the outside and inside, with author and illustrator Didier Cornille's accompanying pictures, with his visual images providing not only an aesthetically stunning and pleasing compliment to the presented, the featured printed words, but with Cornille's illustrations often if not actually usually feeling as though one is looking at actual blueprints, actual architectural designs, with an added and appreciated bonus that Didier Cornille also shows other famous building projects designed by the ten architects he has showcased in Modern Houses: Who Built That?: An Introduction to the Modern House and Their Architects).
Now with regard to age suitability, Modern Houses: Who Built That?: An Introduction to the Modern House and Their Architects is in my opinion generally meant for older children above the age of eight or nine (with no upper age limit). However, if one were reading this book with or to children (and kept the readings to manageable chunks, in other words, if one did not read the entire eighty odd pages in one sitting), Modern Houses: Who Built That? An Introduction to the Modern House and Their Architects is also a tome for parents to consider using with and for younger children who are not quite as yet independent readers (especially if said children have shown an interest in construction, building and/or architecture). Four stars for the winning and successful marriage of text and image, although I am frustratingly forced to lower my star ranking to three stars once more, as sadly, and just like with his otherwise so excellent book on bridges, Didier Cornille has with his Modern Houses: Who Built That?: An Introduction to the Modern House and Their Architects again NOT included a bibliographical list of books consulted, of works cited, of suggestions for further study and reading, and for and to me, considering that this is an entirely non fiction account, a bibliography would not only be appreciated but is something absolutely necessary, totally required (but still, I do indeed highly recommend Modern Houses: Who Built That?: An Introduction to the Modern Hosue and Their Architects, as the book itself is spectacular, and really, the intended audience, children with an interest in building and construction, would most likely not even much care that the book lacks citations and a bibliography).
Mod
Finally (and after a number of frustrating and annoying recent outer space themed personal reading experiences), Mary Kay Carson's Mission to Pluto: The First Visit to an Ice Dwarf and the Kuiper Belt is a non fiction astronomy book geared to children (older children above the age of eleven or so, as there is not only quite a bit of presented text but also by necessity of the subject matter, some subject-specific advanced vocabulary and jargon) which totally and utterly (in my humble opinion) gets it right, that successfully combines an interesting, informative, readable narrative with wonderful and expressive, informatively enlightening accompanying photographs (not to mention the amazing supplemental details, a detailed select bibliography, an index, as well as the necessary photo credits for those images not taken by photographer Tom Uhlman). And truly, Mission to Pluto: The First Visit to an Ice Dwarf and the Kuiper Belt is not just a solid and wonderful introduction to Pluto and to the Kuiper Belt, to the outer reaches of our solar system for older children. No indeed, it is also a perfect introduction for interested adult readers (especially if one desires a succinct but not too dragging, not too overly scientific analysis of the history of Pluto's discovery, of how it and to me still rather annoyingly was demoted from being the ninth planet of our solar system to now being considered but a dwarf planet, a planetoid, a so-called Ice Dwarf, of how the mission to Pluto came into being and to fruition etc.).
Highly highly recommended, and for and to me, Mission to Pluto: The Fist Visit to an Ice Dwarf and the Kuiper Belt is truly and indeed one of the best, one of the most informative and one of the most easily and readily understood basic astronomy-themed books on Pluto I have read to date, a glowingly perfect combination of Mary Kay Carson's informatively readable text and Tom Uhlman's visually stunning accompanying photographs (and with that I of course mean those images that have not come from NASA and Johns Hopkins University, which needless to say, have also proven to be visually and aesthetically awesome), and of course, for me personally, the detailed bibliographical information at the back of Mission to Pluto: The First Visit to an Ice Dwarf and the Kuiper Belt this absolutely is in every way the delicious but oh so very much necessary icing on an already most delicious cake (absolutely spectacular).
Mod
Part of the Scientists in the Field series, and for the most part, I have definitely and with ample enjoyment and pleasure found Loree Griffin Burns' Life on Surtsey: Iceland's Upstart Island both enlightening and wonderfully engaging, with enough information to retain and often even augment and increase interest but thankfully also neither overwhelming with too many featured details nor (and yes indeed importantly) making use of too much topic or area of study and expertise specific biologic, geologic and zoologic jargon, as that can and does often have the tendency to render a science and non fiction based narrative tedious and dragging in scope as well as with potential comprehension difficulties for its readers (especially with regard books that are supposed to be primarily geared to younger audiences).
And yes, I do very much both love and appreciate how the author, how Loree Griffin Burns both introduces and meticulously (but never in any manner pedantically) describes not only how the island of Surtsey came into being, how it rose out of the sea in the early 1960s (the 1963 underwater volcanic eruption and its in many ways quite amazing geologic aftermaths, and how since then, life has slowly but steadily taken hold and established itself on Surtsey, on Iceland's newest island) but also how Burns in very much detail depicts, describes and sometimes analyses, interprets how and why Surtsey is being so lastingly, meticulously and carefully studied by especially entomologists like Erling Olafsson and his assistants (namely that insects are often some of the very first animal species to permanently colonise, to lastingly take hold on new islands, on new or razed landforms and while, for example, with a newly formed volcanic island, a seabird colony such as a group of gulls might well establish itself even before insects and plant species are able to take hold, with birds that rely on plant seeds and insects to feed their offspring, Surtsey has only become a viable and habitable breeding and living area for them since plants and insects have arrived and proliferated).
Combined with visually realistic (and often quite stunning, awe-inspiring) accompanying photographs, a handy glossary and two separate bibliography sections (one with suggestions for further study and reading for the intended audience, for older children from about the age of nine onwards, and the other a more hard science based and oriented list of the works that the author has likely herself perused and made use of for her text, for her printed words), Loree Griffin Burns' Life on Surtsey: Iceland's Upstart Island is absolutely marvellous and very much highly recommended (and not just for the intended audience either, as in my opinion, this book is also a very good and basic introduction for interested adults, to both Surtsey and how scientists are researching and discovering life on Surtsey). And indeed, the only (and yes relatively minor) reason why I am not granting a full five stars to Life on Surtsey: Iceland's Upstart Island is that personally, I do kind of wish that chief entomologist Erling Olaffson could have been a trifle more understanding and appreciative of the fact that some individuals do and might wonder and question why he must generally kill all of the insects he collects in order to adequately study and catalogue them (and while I do indeed very much understand the reasons why, I do think that the answers Erling has given are both a bit lacking and kind of show a lack of personal appreciation on his part).
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A quick, enlightening, sweetly engaging (and fascinating) read is Monica Kulling's Mary Anning's Curiosity, presenting not only Mary Anning's life story from her miraculous deliverance as a toddler (being struck by lightning and surviving, whilst three adult women, including the neighbour holding her were killed) to her first major fossil find, her so-called curiosity, the very first discovery of what the scientific community now calls an ichthyosaur, an ancient aquatic lizard (in complete form), Mary Anning's Curiosity also introduces young readers to early 19th century England (especially to the coastal regions of Cornwall, to Lyme Regis in particular) and to the many problems and potential tragedies working class families such as the Annings often faced (no social safety net, the very real threat of prison for entire families if debts could not be paid, the ravages of diseases such as tuberculosis).
Highly recommended, with the expansive and detailed author's notes along with suggestions for further reading being appreciated added bonuses that much augment both teaching and learning potentials/values of Mary Anning's Curiosity. However, I do have to wonder a bit at the so vehemently negative depictions of Lord Henley in Mary Anning's Curiosity, simply because the same Lord Henley is depicted rather majorly differently and as a primarily positive and much supportive of Mary Anning individual in a picture book on the latter I have read, in Jeannine Atkins' Mary Anning and the Sea Dragon, and I am now of course left to ask and speculate as to whose depiction really is the truth here, or whether it actually lies somewhere between Jeannine Atkins' positive and Monica Kulling's negative and critical portrayals, and that sadly, said truth will also likely be very difficult to ascertain, as both authors have not used either footnotes or endnotes, which makes researching their presented information of the facts surrounding Mary Anning's childhood, including how Lord Henley has been portrayed, much more difficult.
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While I would definitely recommend (and even quite warmly and highly) Sangma Francis' Everest as a detailed, engaging and very much approachable, readable general junior level introduction to not only Mount Everest but also to the Himalayas as a mountain range (both scientifically, historically and indeed also folklorically, mythically), there frustratingly and unfortunately are a few minor but personally nagging issues with regard to Sangma Francis' text which have kind of bothered me a trifle (and enough so to have made me only consider a three star ranking maximum for Everest).
For one, and actually first and foremost, as a resident of Canada, I would want and actually even need to have BOTH the imperial AND the metric system used for the heights of the Himalayan mountains and the temperatures encountered on them (especially since Flying Eye Books obviously also markets and sells their books in Canada, and in Canada, it is the metric system that has been taught since the 1970s). And for two (and I do know that this is likely and indeed a very personal quibble) I definitely would like to see considerably more information and details on Mount Everest's ecosystems and on the many threats faced by rampant tourism and trekking (and yes concurrently, therefore also both less details on climbing Mount Everest and more hard criticism of how especially trekking and mountaineering based tourism is in many ways destroying the mountain, how Mount Everest is getting to be too much of a must-do type of endeavour, that climbers and trekkers are leaving not only garbage but also very much human excrement on the mountain, and while the problems with this are indeed mentioned and alluded to by Sangma Francis, this is in my humble opinion not even remotely enough textually critiqued and condemned). Still, even with the narrational issues I have encountered with Everest (and that I definitely would want more scientific details on Mount Everest, both recent and from the geologic past) I still do think that Sangma Francis has generally and for all intents and purposes penned an interesting and enlightening introduction to and exposé of the world's highest mountain (and with even a short but concise list of titles for further reading included at the back), and yes, Lisk Feng's accompanying illustrations, they are truly aesthetically awe-inspiring, in particular his/her visuals of the majesty of the Himalayas, of Mount Everest as a mountain (and of the deities to whom the latter is considered sacred).
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Originally published in German as Die Welt der Berge, to and for me, it is most definitely and once again Dieter Braun's glowingly, expressive and often full page illustrations that are the true stars of Mountains of the World, that truly "make" this non fiction reference book for children. And indeed artistically, Mountains of the World is absolute and utter aesthetic, visual perfection, presenting realistically but also imaginatively (and with that I mean painterly) rendered images of mountains, mountain based animals, and even the diverse sporting equipment choices used in or on mountains (such as skis and climbing gear).
However and that all having been said, while the illustrations featured in Mountains of the World, while Dieter Braun's delightful pictures are certainly, are definitely and indeed worth five full stars (and perhaps even more than five stars), with beautiful shapes, both geometric and rounded, muted but still expressively bold colours, the same unfortunately cannot, in my opinion, be said with regard to the accompanying text (which in Mountains of the World means Jen Calleja's translation of Dieter Braun's original narrative). For although what text there is in Mountains of the World, is most definitely readable, descriptive and informative as well as for the most part quite enjoyable (and it does seem close enough narrationally and descriptively to Dieter Braun's original printed words) I really do not understand why the organisation in and of itself is so woefully haphazard, why there are no bibliographical lists for further study and reading included and also, most annoyingly, frustratingly, why in the English language edition, why in Mountains of the World, ALL of the heights and measurements of and for the featured and described mountains are presented ONLY in feet and not in BOTH feet and metres. For considering that Mountains of the World is sold and marketed not only in the United States but also in Canada and that in Canada, we happen to use the metric system, the measurements for the mountains shown and depicted really should be presented according to both the imperial and the metric systems. And truth be told, as it stands, I for one really cannot do all that much with these imperial system measurements, for I have actually never learned feet, inches and the like because when we moved from Germany to Canada in 1976, Canada had just switched to the metric system, and thus of course, I never learned the imperial system, seeing that in Germany, we were also being taught metric measurements at school (and considering that ALL Canadian school children now only are taught the metric system, I really do have major issues even fathoming and understanding why in Mountains of the World, only the imperial system is ever used, as in my opinion, in a truly good and educational non fiction book on mountains geared towards North American, and as such not just US American children, both systems should be featured, measurements should definitely be presented in both metres and feet).
Mod
While I generally find the presented information in Michael Hearst's Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals both enlightening and indeed, evocatively, engagingly recounted (with enough hard science facts to be educational, but also never too dense, intricate and overly intensive to become confusing and possibly distracting, tedious to and for the intended audience, to and for children above the age of nine or so), personally, I definitely could have done without author's many humorous "asides" (as they do seem rather majorly silly, even potentially annoying, and especially the fact that nearly ALL of the wrong, that almost ALL of the false multiple choice quiz answers are unreasonable and generally make no sense common whatsoever, that is and remains truly more than a bit frustrating and irritating). And while I do, in fact, realise and also generally understand and appreciate that many children would likely find the type of humour displayed in Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals very much appealing, I most certainly do not (and more than likely also would not have all that much enjoyed this type of silliness even as a child, even when I was the age of the intended audience). However and all that being said and my personal textual quibbles notwithstanding, Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals is still and yes indeed a true biological and zoological, ecological treasure trove and as such recommended as a cherished and valuable teaching and learning tool (and although Arjan Noordeman's, Christie Wright's and Jelmer Noordeman's accompanying illustrations are not personal favourites, as I would certainly have much preferred photographs, they are an aesthetically appealing as well as visually clear successful and informative mirror of and compliment to Michael Hearst's narrative, his text, and indeed and yes a very good match).
Now I was actually very seriously considering a four star rating for Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals until I to my annoyance and intense frustration noticed that while the author, while Michael Hearst does provide appreciated and essential supplemental information and details on how one can become more environmentally friendly and proactive (including eating more local produce and consuming less meat), I am sorely missing a list of works cited, a bibliography (and by extension also adequate source citations with necessary footnotes or endnotes). And considering that Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals basically features mostly hard core science facts, features specific biological and zoological information and details, this lack of citations, this absence of any and all bibliographical source references is (to and for me) a serious academic shortcoming and enough for me to without hesitation now only consider three stars at best, as this book simply requires this, simply screams out for providing a list of source materials and cited secondary works (although I still do much and highly recommend Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Creatures, just with the necessary and important caveats that in my humble opinion some of the humour is or at least can be a trifle forced and irritating and that the non inclusion of a list of works cited with recommendations for further reading and research is a potentially considerably more serious issue, especially for teachers intending to use Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals in the classroom or as study material for their students).
Mod
For me, Sarah B. Pomeroy and Jeyaraney Kathirithamby's Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist, Scientist, Adventurer is probably one of the if not actually the most extensive and intensive general illustrated biography of mid 17th to early 18th century German artist Maria Sibylla Merian (who is also now considered to have been one of the first entomologists and ecologists) I have perused to date. Readable, informative, featuring very much information and detail, but thankfully also without in my humble opinion ever getting bogged down with either too much art or science specific jargon, Pomeroy and Kathirithamby present a succinct (less than 100 page) but still always more than informative enough portrait of Merian's life and times (divided into five enlightening and interesting sections, from her childhood in Frankfurt to Maria Sibylla Merian's final years as a bona fide European celebrity, a single woman who with her daughter had travelled solo to the Dutch South American colony of Surinam and had then resided there until 1701 to collect, study and draw its many plants and insects, its varied and lushly tropical flora and fauna).
Accompanied by simply a plethora and aesthetically awe-inspiring smorgasbord of Maria Sibylla Merian's artwork (as well as diverse paintings depicting artist studios, a 1670 city view of Amsterdam etc.), Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist, Scientist, Adventurer presents a truly wonderful, scientifically, historically and culturally sound and exceedingly well researched combination of text and images, an enlightening and approachable (but also narrationally dense and delightfully academic) introduction to a woman who in many ways was totally ahead of her time, who in mid 16th to early 17th century Germany, the Netherlands and yes Surinam was both an independent artist and indeed also a scientist (a botanist and entomologist). And although after Maria Sibylla Merian's death in 1717, while her drawings of flowers, insects and the like were certainly often used and consulted by the establishment, by scientists such as Carl Linnaeus, Merian herself and especially her scientific observations were generally both overlooked and disparaged simply because of her gender and also of course because she was actually and truly quite avant-guarde so to speak with regard to her approaches to biology, zoology, botany and yes even ecology, Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist, Scientist, Adventurer shows and depicts that since the 1970s, Maria Sibylla Merian has thankfully and fortunately been increasingly feted and globally celebrated as not only an artist of talent and renown but also as one of the earliest scientific observers and and studiers of insects and their diverse life cycles.
Highly recommended (and with the supplemental materials at the back of Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist, Scientist, Adventurer being appreciated added academic bonuses, especially the list of organisms that have been named after and in honour of Maria Sibylla Merian and the extensive bibliographic lists, which have, glory be, been divided into both primary and secondary resource sections), although I (personally) would definitely not suggest this book as a biography for readers younger than about fourteen or so (and no, there is nothing even remotely inappropriate or of questionable content and thematics with regard to Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist, Scientist, Adventurer, just that Sarah B. Pomeroy and Jeyaraney Kathirithamby's presented narrative, that their printed words are in my humble opinion a trifle too dense, too academically involved, too potentially difficult comprehension wise for younger readers).
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Both educational and engagingly recounted, Catherine Thimmesh's Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild sparkles primarily and mostly because it is such a balanced and unexaggerated (unemotional) offering, in so far that the author has penned her chapters in a well researched and academically sound fashion, meticulously and with essential and careful attention to detail (but also never with too much scientific mumbo jumbo either) showing what "Camp Panda" is all about (and yes, I have found the use of panda costumes to limit human interactions between panda cubs and the scientists involved in "Camp Panda" both a bit humorous and also more importantly totally ingenious), but nevertheless also never shying away from pointing out that there have been both successes and failures and that indeed even the scientists involved had to learn the hard way that the less human interference there is with regard to caring for and monitoring the captive panda cubs before releasing them into the wild, the better are their chances of long-term survival (which is essential for panda conservation and protection efforts as even though the panda is considered a national treasure in China, it is still critically endangered and its bamboo forest habits are still under constant pressure and threat from human encroachment).
Now while I do appreciate the fact that in Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild Catherine Thimmesh mentions that there also are a few dissenting voices with regard to protecting pandas and saving them from possible and likely extinction, I for one do find both the viewpoint that pandas are not a good conservation species due to their supposed natural "fragility" and especially the attitude that humans and human problems such as homelessness, hunger and poverty somehow should outweigh and be of more significance and importance than protecting endangered animals rather naive and callous at best. For with regard to pandas being regarded as too fragile to protect and thus an evolutionary dead-end so to speak, well, pandas were thriving and surviving just fine until their habitats and their bamboo forests were decimated by human deforestation and fragmentation and sorry, the idea that humans are somehow more important and worthy than other animals is in my opinion simply and utterly vile and hugely nastily ignorant, especially considering that many if not most of the threats with regard to possible extinction that vulnerable animal species are currently facing are generally the direct result of our, of human behaviour and actions (although I do nevertheless still consider it a positive that Catherine Thimmesh has mentioned dissenting views in Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild, in particular because she always does clearly and succinctly and without extremism then present exactly why these dissenting opinions are basically unsound and rather problematic at best).
Combined with such supplemental treasures (read added bonuses) as a detailed and informative glossary as well as an excellent and expansive bibliography (that lists not only books but also relevant online resources), not to mention that the author also includes a list of suggestions on how one can help conservation efforts and become more environmentally conscious and friendly in one's day to day existence, I do very highly recommend Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild to both interested children and adults (children above the age of ten or so, as the text of Camp Panda: Helping Cubs Return to the Wild, while generally neither overly difficult nor too replete with scientific jargon is still rather dense and wordy with occasionally rather sophisticated vocabulary choices).
Mod
Now if I approach Anita Silvey's Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall primarily and only from how the author has textually and thematically shown Jane Goodall's life and work, I would gladly and without hesitation consider four if not even five stars. For yes indeed and in almost every way, Untamed: The Life of Jane Goodall is from a printed word point of view a perfectly conceptualised and presented middle grade biography, featuring more than enough detail and information regarding Jane Goodall's life and on her career as a primate (and of course first and foremost a chimpanzee) scientist in Africa (including Goodall's conservation and charity work, not to mention that the supplemental information and resources included and found at the back of Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall are expansive, featuring both maps and many suggestions for further reading) but thankfully also without ever becoming overly detailed or making use of too much scientific nomenclature and jargon, so that Anita Silvey's text fortunately therefore avoids having Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall become too wordy and thereby potentially a tedious reading experience for the intended age group (for older children from about the age of ten to thirteen or fourteen, although in my opinion. Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall is actually and indeed also a very good and decent general introduction for interested adult readers who might want a detailed but still manageable and not overly long biography on Jane Goodall).
However and that having been said, I personally actually have still found Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall rather a difficult and occasionally even painful for my eyes reading experience, as the font size of the printed words, as how Anita Silvey's writing appears on the pages of Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall is so ridiculously minuscule that even with my reading glasses, I was often having trouble figuring out words that appeared blurry and unclear to me (and this especially in areas of the book where instead of a black on white, there was a white on orange or a white on green contrast). And yes, albeit the accompanying photographs of Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall are certainly aesthetically stunning and do provide a wonderful visual mirror to and for Anita Silvey's narrative, sometimes there do seem to be textual blurbs that at least to and for my eyes interfere with the featured photographs and vice versa. And therefore, while I do indeed very highly recommend Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall textually, my visual issues with general legibility and that Anita Silvey's featured narrative is just and simply much too frustratingly small for my eyes, this does indeed make me only consider three stars maximum for Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall, as the older I get and the more my eyes do age, the less patience I am willing and able to muster for printed texts that are too small in format and font size or have potentially hard on my vision colour contrasts.
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Although much of the information textually presented by Anita Silvey in her Middle Grade The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth certainly is interesting enough and yes, quite exotically adventuresome in and of itself, both personally and intellectually, I have found The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth rather woefully one-sided at best and as such for the most part also rather totally and absolutely ignoring the (in my opinion omni-present and necessary to consider) negative undercurrents of especially much of the 19th century explorations of South America, Africa etc. and the harvesting of novel, newly discovered plant species. For while I might have indeed found reading about Alexander von Humboldt and other 19th century plant explorers informative to a certain extent (and also kind of grudgingly am somewhat in awe that they would risk so much, including their health and often their very lives in order to not only find but also collect and bring back home with them exotic plant species), frankly, I do have to consider Anita Silvey's attitude that these plant collectors always should somehow to be seen as heroic and positive, as dashing adventurers more than a bit blinkered and naive.
For one, and I do believe that this point should at least have been approached somewhat critically by the author in The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth, in my opinion, many of these early explorers certainly did seem to have a very sadly and truly horribly lackadaisical approach and attitude towards the many dangers they were or would likely be facing on their voyages of discovery. And furthermore, their lack of foresight and their cavalier approach to possible threats and horrors during their plant foraging and exploration expeditions would also of course have caused the same threats of illness and danger to and for their shipmates, to and for those hired or shanghaied (forced) to help the plant hunters on their explorations (and no, I do not consider this all that heroic, for it is one thing to put only yourself in danger, but it is quite another thing to involve others and especially those who have no or at least not much choice in the matter). And for two, I am indeed rather massively furious that Anjta Silvey in The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth does not ever really consider the many real and potential environmental problems and issues that have been and can be caused by non native plants, that she never mentions the threats and dangers posed by so-called invasive species. For while many of the discovered (harvested, collected) plant species were indeed being used both horticulturally and commercially, there have also and from day one so to speak been problematic instances of non native, exotic plants invading and threatening native species, and that with 19th century plant enthusiasts discovering exotic flowers, trees, grasses etc. and taking them back home to often Europe, indeed, this did not always have positive and non problematic consequences for native European ecosystems, and of course the same holds true for other countries and vice versa (not to mention that Anita Silvey equally has very conveniently decided to simply ignore questions of 19th century imperialism and colonialism in The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth and actually even dares to offhandedly refer to Native Americans in a manner that makes them in my opinion appear quite as "uncivilized savages").
And therefore, from both a reading pleasure and an intellectual, academic point of departure, I have not really all that much either enjoyed or even been able to very much appreciate The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth as a work of factually sound non fiction (as indeed, I do find author Anita Silvey's presented and featured text pretty much lacking with regard to some rather important questions and considerations that I for one do feel need to definitely be raised and discussed in The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth and yes, I can really only and without reservations recommend The Plant Hunters: True Stories of Their Daring Adventures to the Far Corners of the Earth for its accompanying visuals and the extensive bibliography at the back of the book).
Mod
This absolutely spectacular dual language (in English and Inuktitut) introduction to edible and medicinal Arctic plants is a true and much enlightening both reading and also research treasure. Not only describing in meticulous and appreciated both cultural and botanical detail the many uses of these plants (from medicine and food sources, to plants that the Inuit have traditionally utilised for fuel, diapers and even insulation) the accompanying photographs of Aalasi Joamie's Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns also clearly present and show that the Arctic, the Canadian Tundra, is actually and in reality anything but barren and devoid of life and vegetation.
The featured written text of Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns is descriptive and even though very much factual, it also never does once read tediously or monotonously (and actually makes me really want to travel to the Arctic, to look at, to perhaps even forage for these plants and to perchance even sample some of the berries and teas so lovingly and informatively described). However, while the main narrative section of Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns about the specific featured, presented plants and their myriad of uses by the Inuit has been penned by Anna Ziegler and Rebecca Hainu (who provides the Inuktitut translations, which appear as they should, in syllabics), the introduction itself is by Aalasi Joamie herself (an Inuit Elder who has provided ALL of the information on the presented plants, their uses and the like). And reading said introduction might indeed at first feel a bit choppy, as the text does seem to meander, to move back and forth from factual discussion to nostalgia. But indeed, the introduction has actually and in fact not really been "written" by Aalasie Joamie, but instead is based on oral interviews, on oral recordings (in Inuktitut) which have then been transcribed without adaptation and changes into English (into the introduction of Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns). And personally, I am in fact and actually very much appreciative of the fact that the English transcriptions have not been altered and made to appear more "literary" as that would both diminish the palpable and lovely sense of immediacy and also basically change Aalasie Joamie's words into something they are not (which would be or at least could be, rather insulting and denigrating, in my opinion, and dimmish the impact of the introduction, of Aalsie Joamie's words and the nostalgic remembrances of her childhood and adulthood).
Highly recommended (but just like the authors have stated, many of the plants featured and described in Walking with Aalasi: An Introduction to Edible and Medicinal Arctic Platns have or at least can have strong medicinal properties and they should, nay they must, therefore be used with prudence and care).
Mod
Clear, concisely systematic, with hardcore scientific facts that are nevertheless always readable and approachable (in other words easily understood and uncomplicatedly explained), Laurence Pringle's Billions of Years, Amazing Changes: The Story of Evolution is in my opinion an in all ways almost perfect general introduction to evolution as a theory and fact, not only because of the scientifically sound details and information presented and featured by the author but in my opinion also and perhaps even first and foremost because Laurence Pringle's text does not simply and even mostly focus on Charles Darwin but rather that Billions of Years, Amazing Changes: The Story of Evolution meticulously dissects not only Darwin's life, his discoveries, his development of the scientific theory of evolution as it appears and is used, considered today but also and very much importantly points out and explains what there had been prior to Darwin (that for example, while in the past, while before Charles Darwin, most people, including the majority of philosophers and scientists, obviously believed in creationism and had of course also usually been taught if not mandated by both secular and religious authorities to believe in creationism, as early as 2500 years ago, Greek nature philosopher Xenophanes had in fact considered the earth as being ancient and that fossils were the remains of ancient plants and animals) and then what has come afterwards (what has transpired post Charles Darwin), especially with regard to so-called missing links fossils, DNA and radioactive dating methods evidence, which have ever increasingly proven without much doubt that the earth and life on earth have changed and evolved slowly over billions of years, that Charles Darwin's theories of evolution are indeed (and therefore more than likely) absolutely correct and the truth regarding the emergence and development of life on earth, including us, including humans.
Now although by its very nature often quite densely informational, Billions of Years, Amazing Changes: The Story of Evolution is definitely and happily also not ever written, not ever penned in an overly complicated manner (with the author's written textual details delightfully and evocatively graced by not only accompanying photographs but also by Steve Jenkins' always visually amazing and detailed collage like illustrations for a lovely but also thankfully understated marriage of text and images). And therefore, but of course with the I think necessary caveat that this is indeed my own and personal opinion, Laurence Pringle's Billions of Years, Amazing Changes: The Story of Evolution is a truly wonderful, perfect general introduction to the theory of evolution, conceptualised for and geared to older children, probably from the age of ten or so onwards, but really, Billions of Years, Amazing Changes: The Story of Evolution is in my opinion also a great general theory of evolution book and resource for interested adults, basically a book for everyone and anyone, as Billions of Years, Amazing Changes: The Story of Evolution really and truly touches and adequately describes all that is important and essential to know about evolution, both now and then, simply and in an unthreatening, never ever overly convoluted manner, presenting essential details without being in any manner overwhelming or by inundating readers with too much area of study specific scientific jargon and the like, not to mention that Laurence Pringle, although ALWAYS absolutely pro evolution also generally refrains from engaging in any science versus religion debate in any great depth, but simply and with scientific rigour and proof shows why and how evolution is true, why evolution happens and why the theory of evolution is therefore correct (with the handy glossary, suggestions for further study and reading, including online resources, and especially the detailed and organised into books and journal articles bibliography of works cited and used being the absolute and delicious icing on the cake, and indeed totally increasing especially the supplemental research and study value of Billions of Years, Amazing Changes: The Story of Evolution exponentially).
Mod
While the fictional journal writing of main protagonist and middle to late 19th century palaeontologist and world explorer Dr. Wendell Wellington Wiggins is indeed flowingly and chattily rendered, with a lighthearted and entertaining, as well as curiosity retaining writing and composition style (and that indeed, for about the first ten pages or so, I did also and actually both enjoy and even quite strongly agree with author Lesley M.M. Blume's Weltanschauung, with her general philosophy and worldview, and as she has shown this in Dr. Wendell Wellington Wiggins' imaginary musings), my original enchantment with The Wondrous Journals of Dr. Wendell Wellington Wiggins has ended up being very much fleeting indeed and has in fact been replaced with and by a rather massive and all encompassing reading annoyance and outright angry frustration.
And no, it is not the fact that in The Wondrous Journals of Dr. Wendell Wellington Wiggins Lesley M.M. Blume presents a melange of scientific fantasy and scientific reality that has turned my original consideration of four stars into just one star but more so that very many of the paleontological realities Blume features and describes (by means of her journal writing scientist explorer) as actual and bona fide scientific truths (and sometimes even with academic footnotes) are often woefully and unacceptably anachronistic in scope (in others words that many of the scientific discoveries and theories mentioned within the text had not yet even been discovered and considered in the 19th century, when The Wondrous Journals of Dr. Wendell Wellington Wiggins is supposed to be taking place, such as for example when Wendell Wellington Wiggins pontificates in his journal about continental drift while he is exploring South America, seeing that the latter was only proven in the middle of the 20th century, or when during his explorations of Australia, Professor Wiggins writes about birds being descendant from dinosaurs, the scientific truth, of course, but once again something that had not yet been postulated in the 19th century and is in fact a relatively novel concept even today, even now, not to mention that it also makes no logical sense whatsoever for Dr. Wiggins to categorically claim fossil ages of 300 million years and older, since in the 19th century, without radiocarbon dating, those ages would not have been possible to in any manner predict and figure out).
Combined with the fact that there are actually in my opinion also some incredibly huge paleontological and scientific falsehoods and mistakes located within the pages of The Wondrous Journals of Dr. Wendell Wellington Wiggins (such as the claim of a 500 million year old flowering plant fossil, when the first flowering plants in reality only emerged around 140 million years ago), I really and truly have been massively disappointed on both a reading pleasure and reading truth level. And yes, albeit I do of course understand that The Wondrous Journals of Dr. Wendell Wellington Wiggins is supposed to be scientific fantasy to a large extent and thus also with equally fantastical fossils, well, because the author, because Lesley M.M. Blume has obviously wanted her story and thematic background to be scientifically sound at its baseline, this does at least to and for me make the rather many factual palaeontology mistakes I have found problematic at best (and in particular so because they might also and indeed teach the audience, teach young readers of The Wondrous Journals of Dr. Wendell Wellington Wiggins these errors of science as being potentially true and proven paleontological data and information).
Mod
Yes and most definitely, Josh and Bethanie Hestermann's Marine Science for Kids: Exploring and Protecting Our Watery World is indeed a very good if not even in fact an absolutely great general introduction not only to marine science as a discipline, as a whole, but also (and very much appreciatively) to the immense importance and necessity of protecting and safeguarding our oceans, lakes and rivers (all of earth's water systems both on the surface and below the surface) and their many diverse and varied floras and faunas (their ecosystems) from human-caused pollution, from habitat destruction and the like, appropriate and suitable for children above the age of ten or eleven or so.
However and in my humble opinion, the book title of Marine Science for Kids: Exploring and Protecting Our Watery World is actually also a bit of a misnomer. For albeit that the Hestermanns might well have conceptualised their presented narrative as being primarily meant for younger audiences, the happy and fortunate truth of the matter that they have penned their featured text factually, engagingly and also (thankfully) without too many attempts at childish humour, this does also and equally make Marine Science for Kids: Exploring and Protecting Our Watery World a quite decent and sufficiently informative extensive but not overly intensive, useful introduction to marine science for interested teenagers and adults, with the detailed bibliography and featured websites at the back of Marine Science for Kids: Exploring and Protecting Our Watery World also providing a perfect starting off point for further study and research.
And yes, even many of the activities featured in Marine Science for Kids: Exploring and Protecting Our Watery World could in my opinion likely be of interest for both children and adults (as indeed, I am certainly considering some of the food based suggestions, and the science experiments definitely do look very interesting and educational).
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Yes to a certain point, I guess that technically speaking, The Octopus Scientist: Exploring the Mind of a Mollusc could maybe still be considered as a picture book (as there of course is a specific combination of text and images, of Sy Montgomery's printed words and Keith Ellenbogen's accompanying photographs). However, I for one would in fact rather label The Octopus Scientist: Exploring the Mind of a Mollusc as a sparsely but enlighteningly illustrated and also rather text-heavy science and zoology themed textbook for older children from about the age of ten onwards and as such not so much as something for the so-called picture book crowd, as a book suitable to and for younger children.
And yes, in my humble opinion, The Octopus Scientist: Exploring the Mind of a Mollusc is indeed also very much suitable for interested teenagers and adults, since Sy Montgomery most definitely presents an absolute and informative plethora of interesting information and knowledge about molluscs in general and in particular featuring the fact that especially octopods and squid are incredibly intelligent, that they have their own personalities, that they engage in problem solving, that they are able to lastingly recognise individual people and are also curious but at the same time and equally total masters of disguise (and thus also very difficult to study in their natural habitats, in the ocean).
A wonderfully informative reading and learning experience The Octopus Scientist: Exploring the Mind of a Mollusc has been for me (and indeed, even as an educated adult with advanced university degrees, much of the presented and featured details about octopuses was and remains relatively novel information to and for me). And yes, I do therefore and without reservations very highly recommend The Octopus Scientist: Exploring the Mind of a Mollusc and indeed for both in-class and at home use (and really, most of the Scientists in the Field books I have so far encountered have been total treasure troves of knowledge), with my only and indeed very much minor complaints being that I do wish the bibliography at the back featured more included tomes and that in the Kindle edition of The Octopus Scientist: Exploring the Mind of a Mollusc, Keith Ellenbogen's photographs appear rather too small for my personally aesthetics (and that in my opinion, this also kind of might have the tendency to focus attention away from them, to make the photographs appear a trifle insignificant and sometimes as rather visually blurry and lacking in detail).
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Yes, I have certainly been very much enjoying Mary Kay Carson's Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More (and have also and equally encountered much enlightening, much educational information and many both specific and more general details about both the history of astronomy from ancient Greece until now, interesting and sometimes if not even rather often unknown to me factoids about what lies beyond the reaches of our solar system, such as for example, the different types of stars and their various sizes and levels of energy, galaxies, black holes, questions about whether there is the possibility or perhaps even the probability of life on other planets, on so-called exoplanets beyond those celestial spheres that inhabit our solar system, as it has clearly been shown that if we are to ever find life elsewhere in the universe we need to consider looking far far beyond planets like Mars and even the moons of our gas giants, like Saturn's Titan or Jupiter's Europa).
And with regard to the main movers and shakers who during the 17th century were (and yes in my opinion obviously also succeeding) trying to prove that it is not the earth which moves around the sun, but vice versa (heliocentrism), I do indeed appreciate that Mary Kay Carson does in Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More not only present to her readers (to basically anyone from about the age of eleven or so onwards, as while Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More might have been primarily conceptualised for younger readers, it is also and totally a wonderful astronomy book for interested teenagers and adults, for EVERYONE) just a basic and sparse introduction to Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler and Galileo Galilei but indeed and appreciatively that Carson also repeatedly points out and expands upon Galileo's issues with the Catholic Church and that he was in fact only rehabilitated and no longer declared a heretic in 1992 (I mean, how dare the papacy wait hundreds of years to do this) and that other more unfortunate scientists like Giordano Bruno were actually burned at the stake for daring to speak out against the Church's doctrine of supporting the ptolemaic system of the sun and the rest of the planets, of everything in the night sky revolving around the earth (although I do rather wish that Mary Kay Carson had also pointed out that one of the reasons for Giordano Bruno being burned as a heretic whilst Galileo got away with house arrest was most likely that Bruno was originally a monk and that he also had speculated and very publicly so about the possibility of life on other planets and that the earth might actually not be a specific creation of and by God).
But for me personally, the icing on an already most delicious cake is most definitely and certainly that the supplemental information section of Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More includes not only a handy glossary and an index, but also that the bibliographies, that the suggestions for further study and reading contain both book and online resources (and yes, while with a title like Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More, I did in fact kind of already expect to find adequate bibliographies included, I have nevertheless been most delightfully impressed by both Mary Mary Carson's general organisation of her presented sources and that they are also very much up to date and current, at least with regard to the publication date of 2013).
And finally, while I will probably not ever bother trying out the accompanying suggested activities, they do in fact and indeed look and feel factually engaging (providing a delightful and versatile combination of both simple and more complicated suggestions, with detailed but still simple enough instructions, perfect for both at home and also in-school, classroom use, and indeed a lovely way to render astronomy not just theoretical, but also a hands-on, an applied science). Four shining and glowing stars for Beyond the Solar System: Exploring Galaxies, Black Holes, Alien Planets, and More and yes, very highly recommended!
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Although the general writing style of Sheila Cole's The Dragon in the Cliff: A Novel Based on the Life of Mary Anning is indeed very much readable and Mary Anning's first person narration delightfully engaging, I have now and with very much massive frustration and personal annoyance decided to stop my perusal at the depiction of Richard Anning's death (and to abandon The Dragon in the Cliff: A Novel Based on the Life of Mary Anning as yet another "could not be bothered to finish" books).
For while Mary Anning's father, for while Richard Anning did indeed (and as stated in The Dragon in the Cliff: A Novel Based on the Life of Mary Anning) die in November 1810, Mary Anning was in fact not eleven but actually already twelve years of age when her father died. But furthermore and considerably more problematically for me, author Sheila Cole also has Richard Anning in The Dragon in the Cliff: A Novel Based on the Life of Mary Anning dying almost immediately after his accident, after he falls off of a cliff whilst collecting fossils (or what were then called curiosities), which actually is a total and strangely fantastical fabrication, since Richard Anning's accident in fact happened quite a number of years prior to his demise (which was caused by tuberculosis and the lingering after-effects of his accident).
Therefore, Richard Anning did not and like Sheila Cole attempts to show in The Dragon in the Cliff: A Novel Based on the Life of Mary Anning Succumb just a few hours after he had been brought home after having been found lying prostrate on the beach after his fall, and for Sheila Cole to play with legitimate and hard core historical fact dates in such a callous manner, yes indeed, this has totally infuriated me and enough so to not only abandon The Dragon in the Cliff: A Novel Based on the Life of Mary Anning with no regrets whatsoever but to also only consider but a one star ranking at best. Because even though The Dragon in the Cliff: A Novel Based on the Life of Mary Anning is of course supposed to be a work of historical fiction, it is still based on the specific facts of Mary Anning's life, and in my opinion, any historical dates should have been untouchable.
And considering that Sheila Cole more than likely had Richard Cole perish immediately after his accident for dramatics and for so-called shock and awe values, well for me, that is actually just another reason to not consider The Dragon in the Cliff: A Novel Based on the Life of Mary Anning as worthwhile continuing with (as needing to make Mary Anning's life even more tragic and complicated than it already was by altering factual dates is really majorly annoying to and for me and also kind of a bit of an insult to both Mary Anning's life and to her career and her many novel to science achievements).
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Although the details presented by Richard Panchyk in his Archaeology of Kids: Uncovering the Mysteries of Our Past is both interesting and very much educational (and that I really do appreciate both Panchyk's easy to understand, non scientific jargon heavy writing style and the included twenty-five activities which really do demonstrate to the intended audience, to older children from about the age of ten of so onwards that archaeology is actually something concrete and not just a theoretical entity one cannot grasp and understand), I have in fact also found that after the (and indeed, rather brilliant) opening chapter on how archaeology in general works, much of Archaeology of Kids: Uncovering the Mysteries of Our Past is more (and in my humble opinion) a detailed analysis on the history of mankind than specifically on archaeology as a scientific discipline.
For albeit what Richard Panchyk in Archaeology of Kids: Uncovering the Mysteries of Our Past has penned about how humans emerged from their ape-like ancestors and finally became Homo sapiens sapiens (and then how we developed into many different and various civilisations, from the Stone Age, to Greece and Rome and not to forget the civilisations of the so-called New World, such as the Maya and the Inca) is enlightening and certainly well researched and presented, I guess that I was kind of hoping for a bit more specifics on how today's archaeologists not only discover the past, but how they (and very much in specific detail) go about unearthing and showing this (which of course is mentioned in Archaeology of Kids: Uncovering the Mysteries of Our Past but not with enough detail for my reading tastes and wants and with a bit too much of a focus on the actual past and not enough in my opinion on how we move the past from below ground to above ground).
Still, I do definitely think that Archaeology of Kids: Uncovering the Mysteries of Our Past provides a very decent and enlightening junior level introduction to archaeology (and with the glossary, the websites to explore and the detailed bibliography being an appreciated even if in fact also expected added bonus), but that text-wise, I have indeed been a trifle disappointed with Richard Panchyk's writing and do find that he sometimes rather seems to eschew archeology in order to focus more on history (which I actually enjoy, as I am a history buff, but yes, I was kind of expecting more on archaeology and on how it is done in Archaeology of Kids: Uncovering the Mysteries of Our Past).
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So yes, reading Kate Evans' 2006 young adult (but in fact equally suitable for adult readers, actually for anyone from about the age of thirteen or so onwards) graphic novel Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out online as a one hour borrowing on Open Library has been very hard on and painful for my ageing eyes, has been rather exhausting and frustrating with regard to reading ease, and this first and foremost because in my humble opinion and for a graphic novel Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out simply features and contains far too many words (and with them all presented in an extremely minuscule font size at that), making Kate Evans' narrative feel much too tediously textbook like for a graphic novel, and indeed, with the tiny font size of the text thus and equally causing me not only eyestrain but also at times even some trouble trying to figure out what exactly the author is trying to say (and not to mention that I have also on a personal aesthetic level not really all that much enjoyed Kate Evans' black and white artwork for Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out, finding her illustrations too exaggerated and in particular her human figures too caricature like for my visual tastes).
Now I do, my above mentioned issues with the general set-up of Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out and how the text and illustrations present themselves on paper notwithstanding, very much appreciate Kate Evans' presented and featured information on climate change (and also do tend to very much and strongly agree with the author's viewpoints regarding what is causing today's global warming, namely that it is primarily being created by us, by human pollution, materialism and over-consumption). However, if I do look at Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out with a both academic and a more critical eye, yes I for one also think and realise that I do have to majorly take Ms. Evans to task for being not only incredibly one-sided with her philosophies but also that in Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out, Kate Evans' uncompromising stances and assertions actually often do at least tone of narrative voice wise feel and sound quite as all-or-nothing, quite as extreme and as one-sided as the ridiculous attitudes promoted and feted by some of the most ignorant climate change deniers (and in my opinion, this should of course be avoided and also avoided at all costs).
Furthermore and importantly, climate change and global warming are also NOT something that are primarily (or only) caused by the rich and that the poor are somehow and supposedly totally and utterly blameless, since (and at least from where I am standing) over-consumption and materialism are global diseases and ones that have infected everyone both rich and poor. And for Kate Evans in Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out to try to claim otherwise, well, this is both silly in and of itself and it also truly (in my opinion) tends to very much lessen the importance, the significance and the impact of what Evans has to say about climate change as an issue, since it does feel too emotionally charged, unscientific and also really quite willfully nasty.
And yes, albeit that I do think Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out includes and shows a welcome plethora of necessary details and information on and about climate change and global warming, on and about the weather related fiascos we contemporary humans have often caused and are still continuously causing with our entitled lifestyles and tendencies towards materialism and considering the earth as our proverbial private oyster to be exploited at will (and that I do very much like how Kate Evans has included not only suggestions for further reading but also advice on how to become more active with regard to fighting climate change, including changing one's own lifestyle, reducing one's personal carbon footprint), the combination in Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out of too much text for a graphic novel and Kate Evans' rather frustrating tendency to be too one-sided and too my way or the proverbial highway with regard to her personal stance on climate change, this has made Weird Weather: Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Climate Change But Probably Should Find Out both not as scientifically sound as I was hoping for, as I would like, and also as such rather personally disappointing.
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Well, from my perspective and in my humble opinion, the absolute best and very much the most useful and serviceable parts of Ellen Jackson’s 2008 illustrated astronomy tome The Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes (which is meant for readers from about the age of ten or so onwards) are definitely the so-called back materials. For yes and indeed, the detailed bibliographies, the expansive glossary and that Jackson has actually divided her suggestions for further study and research not only into books and websites but also into three main sections meant for general reading, for students (for younger readers) and finally for teacher (and of course also for parents), this really does make supplemental study and research oh so much easier and The Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes into a truly wonderful educational reference source.
However, even though I certainly am academically ecstatic with regard to the above mentioned secondary sources encountered in The Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes, if I then decide to turn my full attention to the author’s, to Ellen Jackson’s actual presented text (and yes, even though Jackson certainly features much educational, much enlightening information and details about the universe, about the supernovae, dark energy and black holes of the book title, and while Nic Bishop’s accompanying photographs are visually stunning and provide a very nice aesthetic mirror to and for the featured narrative), I do readily admit that I rather find in particular Ellen Jackson’s writing style, I do consider how she features her facts and figures about the universe for the most part so verbally tedious and dragging that I often am catching myself not only majorly distracted but also impatiently skimming and wishing that The Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes would just stop and be done with (and yes, actually rather feeling myself a bit like a black hole swallowing and destroying my potential reading pleasure).
And albeit that I am still rating The Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes with three stars, this is really just because I am so totally intellectually impressed with how Ellen Jackson has presented and organised her bibliography, as if I were to mostly consider how much I have enjoyed actually reading The Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes, Ellen Jackson’s printed words, they are in fact and definitely only two stars for me.
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To tell the truth, my very much positive personal reaction to author Ky Frydenborg’s statement in her 2012 Wild Horse Scientists that the wild (feral) domestic horses of the United States (and of course also elsewhere in North America) should likely NOT really be considered an invasive species because horses first evolved in North America, spread from North America to Asia, Europe etc. via the land-bridge that used to, that periodically linked Asia to North America and then might well have been hunted to extinction in North America by the first humans to inhabit, to settle there should probably also be taken with a major grain of proverbial salt.
Because for one, I rather know and realise that as a major horse enthusiast, I do have huge issues even considering and accepting the possibility that horses, that one of my favourite animals could be seen and approached as an ecological nightmare, could be deemed an invasive species in the so-called New World (in the USA, Canada and Mexico). And for two, the above mentioned author claim that since horses had their beginnings in North America, because they first appeared and evolved from hyracotherium to the modern horse in North America (and probably became extinct there due to over hunting by us, by humans) that today’s wild horses in the American Rockies, on Assateaque Island etc. (even though they seemingly are all descendants of domestic horses imported by in particular Spanish settlers) should thus not be considered invasive, but rather as a native species of the past which has basically returned to its former home, well, albeit that Frydenburg’s assertion of this in Wild Horse Scientists is something which is very much personally appealing, it is also true that this has in fact not really been universally accepted, that there are actually still a rather goodly number of equine scientists who do (from a historical perspective) very much approach the wild feral horses of North America as being non native (now) and thus of course invasive and non endemic.
Furthermore, even if one were to in fact approach North American wild equines as being a non invasive, a native species, Kay Frydenborg’s text in Wild Horse Scientists also clearly shows that due to the fact that horses tend to be pretty fecund (fertile) and that a fully grown North American mustang or Assateaque horse now has only very few natural predators, it is also and unfortunately true that the feral horses of North America do tend to be very rough on their environment, are often overly populating their natural ranges and last but not least, wild horses (and especially Western USA mustangs) often do cause major damage and problems for ranchers and their livestock.
And most definitely, for wildlife control authorities/experts and as Frydenborg’s presented text describes in Wild Horse Scientists to now use a specially developed equine birth control vaccine (which is darted into mares) to try to lower wild horse populations, to keep horses from reproducing exponentially, in my humble opinion (and as a horse lover), this is of course much more humane and acceptable than shooting horses, than rounding up horses to transport them to slaughterhouses and yes even than capturing certain “desired” young horses and then gentling them, selling them for riding. But indeed, I do wonder if Kay Frydenborg’s claim that there is no more mass slaughtering of horses (both wild and not wild) in the United States is actually the whole and entire truth, as sadly, if horses are no longer allowed to be slaughtered locally, they often are still allowed to be transported and usually in infuriatingly horrible conditions via both road and air traffic to countries, to areas where the en masse slaughtering of horses and the consumption of horse meat is considered both acceptable and a cultural food tradition (and this is for example and painfully the state of affairs in Canada and I am of course rather curious whether it is the same south of the border, but no, Kay Frydenborg does not ever in Wild Horse Scientists textually tackle this scenario, which I do rather tend to find a bit of an oversight).
But first and foremost and with regard to the combination, the marriage of the author’s, of Kay Frydenborg’s text and the accompanying photographs (which truly are a visual treat and an aesthetic personal delight), Wild Horse Scientists provides not only a throughly detailed but also and equally a never too verbally taxing introduction to horses (and ponies) in general, with much information and educationally, engagingly presented equine specific facts and figures, and also and very much happily a very solid bibliography that lists both books and online sources (for older children from about the age of nine onwards, but of course Wild Horse Scientists is also something for interested teenagers and adults to consider for perusal). And of course and in my opinion, with Wild Horse Scientists Kay Frydenborg has also given to me (to us) a very much cheering and massively uplifting reading experience, for yes, I have most definitely found it very much an absolute and total reading joy to encounter in Wild Horse Scientists how wild equines in the United States are being increasingly controlled through birth control measures instead of killing, instead of slaughtering.
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Wonderfully educational and informative and with a message that is both encouraging and also rather necessarily a trifle sobering and thought provoking, I absolutely and truly have both enjoyed reading Sneed B. Collard III’s 2005 The Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands and have equally appreciated the biological and ecological information I have learned (from how fire is often necessary to reclaim and restore tall grass prairies to the fact that originally European settlers actually thought that the Midwestern prairies were useless for agriculture, but that sadly, this attitude soon changed to one of actively and all encompassingly destroying the American grasslands and turning them for the most part into sterile and devoid of biodiversity farmland).
With an optimistic perspective and proof of success depicted in the represented details of The Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands (regarding Pauline Drobney’s reconstruction of out of commission Iowa farmland to create the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge and Diane Debinski striving to reintroduce the Regal Fritillary butterfly into its former prairie habitat) this is mostly a story of hope and perseverance, but also with the necessary caveats provided by author Sneed B. Collard III (speaking for the two biologists, speaking for Pauline Drobney and Diane Debinski) that the American (and Canadian) Midwestern prairies, that the grasslands will of course never be able to be entirely reconstructed (as there is just too much agriculture, too much farming for this) but that every little bit of reclaimed prairie is both a very positive thing and also a way to protect and to increase biodiversity and to make farming and even on a larger scale more environmentally cautious and responsible.
And yes, an important environmental and conservation lesson is featured in The Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands, with Sneed B. Collard III showing his readers, showing his intended audience of older children from about the age of nine onwards with a clear narrative and visually stunning accompanying photographs that even though the pre-settlement and pre large scale agriculture expansive former glory of the North American grasslands will likely never be totally reclaimed, there are indeed many ways and means to at least reconstruct some of this, a reason for celebration albeit with some caveats (and of course with the included bibliography of both books and online resources providing for me the icing on the cake and to mostly definitely and without reservations warmly recommend The Prairie Builders: Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands).
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Oh I do wish that I could without reservations recommend Sy Montgomery’s 2009 Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia. For yes, the textual information presented by Montgomery is replete with education, is full full full of enlightenment (and Nic Bishop’s accompanying photographs certainly do provide a detailed and often stunning visual complement and mirror to an for the author’s, to and for Sy Montgomery’s factual printed words).
But in my humble opinion (and especially considering that this illustrated tome, that Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia is geared towards younger readers, is meant for older children from about the age of nine onwards), I do have to admit and point out that there unfortunately is (to and for me) actually and in fact often rather too much and also much too varied information shown and meticulously discussed within the pages of Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia, that Sy Montgomery’s featured text with its multiple threads and excursions regarding Mongolia in general (focussing on historical figures such as Genghis Khan, Mongolian culture and life, the Gobi Dessert and that there have been many fossilised dinosaur and dinosaur eggs discovered there and so on and so on), whilst of course interesting in and of itself does kind of tend to push the main topic of Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia (namely Tom McCarthy’s expedition to not only look for the telltale signs of snow leopard habitation, hunting and the like but to also change the often negative attitudes towards snow leopards from Mongolian herdsmen) a bit to the periphery so to speak and having to compete with oh so much other types of both scientific and cultural/historical information on Mongolia.
But no, I do of course not think that the details on the latter (on Mongolia in a general sense) are unimportant and should not be textually encountered in Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia. But yes, I do nevertheless rather think that Sy Montgomery at times kind of seems to narrationally bury her main topic (and considering that snow leopards being saved from likely extinction is so very important and essential, I do wish that this were not the case, as I certainly have found it rather distracting to be textually overwhelmed with such a multitude of different topics and information that I have to in fact specifically search for the details on snow leopards and saving them as a species). And well, combined with the fact that Sy Montgomery has only included a very substandard, a very lacking bibliography, I really cannot consider more than a low three stars maximum for Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia (and frankly, I actually think that my rating of three stars is pretty generous).
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An amazing, wonderful basic but still extensive introduction to North American trees, author/illustrator Gina Ingoglia's The Tree Book (which is also labelled as being for both kids and their grown ups) is truly a perfect marriage of informative text and meticulously rendered accompanying images. Featuring a detailed introduction to trees in general and then proceeding to specifically and in much detail describe over thirty North American trees (mostly native trees, but also some non native species now commonly found and planted in North America) the presented text shines and sparkles with just enough hard science facts and evidence to be informative and enlightening, educational, but fortunately presented in a manner that is child-friendly and thus easy to read and understand (and for me, appreciatively, the author simply presents the relevant facts and information as a given and does not attempt to "lighten" the tone by resorting to humorous asides and silliness, a trend that I have recently discovered in my perusals of science books for children, and a trend that I personally rather much despise as in my opinion, this insults or at least can insult children's intelligence and seems to suggest that children somehow need humour and silliness in order to learn and appreciate science).
The full colour accompanying illustrations are marvellously, amazingly detailed, featuring not only the described, the presented individual trees in their full majesty, glory and scope, but also and always presenting specific, often minutely rendered supplemental depictions of leaves, branches, seeds, bark and the like, basically ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that might be necessary for and help with visual identification of a given tree. They are a true feast for the eyes and the specific, meticulous detail of even the tiniest leaf or seed is a perfect mirror of and compliment to the equally detailed and descriptive text, the scientific, biological narrative.
Now even without the detailed and visually appealing glossary and bibliographies at the back (including a number of relevant websites), I would have absolutely loved this book, but they are indeed a very much appreciated added bonus and move The Tree Book from a great general introduction to trees to an in all ways perfect science (or rather botany) reference manual for older children (above the ages of eight or so, and highly recommended for both home schooling and in class use). And most definitely, Gina Ingoglia's The Tree Book is also and should also be considered as a wonderful and uncomplicated, easily understood and fathomed introduction to trees for EVERYONE (both young and old). Five glowing stars (and The Tree Book is actually a tome that in my opinion truly deserves more than five stars, is worth more than five stars). And oh boy, do I ever have a love/hate relationship with the new independent bookstore in my home town, as every time I go there, I manage to find so many books I would just love to have, and while I do always try to resist (for both monetary reasons and spacial reasons) often, as with this here book, I simply cannot resist the temptation.
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Now if I were to just consider how the author, how Alice E. Goudey generally and textually presents white tailed deer, elk and barren ground caribou in her 1955 non fiction illustrated chapter book Here Come the Deer!, then she certainly and in my humble opinion has done a nicely informative job factually showing the first year of three young fawns (one from each of the featured species of deer), detailing and describing both how they are cared for by their mothers (and sometimes by their herds) and with Goudey also not shying away in Here Cone the Deer! from pointing out to her intended audience (to young readers from about the age of eight or so onwards) the many threats especially young deer always face, but fortunately with the threats not turning into a harsh outcome, of the deer or their parents being killed (mostly dangers from predators, but also that in the winter months when food is scarce, snow and ice is abundant and temperatures are frigid, death by starvation or from exposure can always be a possibility).
But unfortunately, I find with regard to Alice B. Goudey’s mode of narration that Here Come the Deer! sometimes does tend to sound a bit too anthropomorphic for my tastes, that even though there is a third person omniscient narrator and thus of course no animals talking, chatting amongst themselves in Here Come the Deer!, Goudey’s descriptions of in particular the family units of deer, elk and caribou feel rather more human than animal in scope, which does kind of render the text a bit too cutesy and not sufficiently straight forward scientific and non fiction for me. And furthermore, Alice B. Goudey’s use of some very negative and judgmental adjectives for describing many of the predators that young deer must face (like for example the words wicked and cruel), I do both personally and academically find this incredibly problematic, as predators are not horrible, nasty and evil, but just animals hunting prey for sustenance and survival (and I certainly would not want children leaving Here Come The Deer! believing, thinking that wolves, snakes, mountain lions etc., that the predators of deer are somehow be inherently negative, to be feared and deserving of destruction).
And combined with the fact that while Garry Mackenzie’s accompanying artwork is visually descriptive and imaginative, his utilised colour scheme is just a bit too monochromatic and drab for my aesthetics, and that Alice B. Goudey has also not bothered to include a bibliography, for me, Here Come The Deer! might be sufficiently interesting content wise, but not enough so me to consider Here Come the Deer! with more than three stars.
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So yes, regarding what Brenda Z. Guiberson shows in her 1993 Salmon Story (which I would consider a middle grade illustrated non fiction account suitable for readers from about the age of eight years of age onwards), the featured text for Salmon Story is straight forwardly informational, never either too simplistic or too convoluted (in other words just about right for the intended age group and audience) and also happily never demonstrating verbal silliness or artificial humour, with more than enough textual and solidly scientific and ecological information and details presented by Guiberson on salmon life cycles, why and how salmon are often facing human caused threats and even possible extinction, what is being done with regard to salmon conservation and also much of the science behind studying salmon and how to best help to protect them, and not to mention and fortunately, Salmon Story also includes a bibliography, not overly but still more than sufficiently detailed. But of course since Salmon Story was published in 1993, any books about salmon and salmon conservation published post that date will naturally not be appearing in this bibliography (which is something to keep in mind, if one is actually considering using Salmon Story for educational and especially for research purposes).
Combined with accomapying artwork by the author, by Brenda Z. Guiberson (who therefore acts as both author and illustrator for Salmon Story) and also featuring some very nicely detailed photographs, in my opinion, the marriage of text and images for Salmon Story is pretty well specatacular and the end result is thus a reading experience informative and engaging (both textually and illustratively). And the only reason why my rating is not five stars is that in my opinion (and likley also due to the 1993 publication date), Salmon Story feels a bit too optimistic regarding the future sustainability of salmon (of ALL Pacific salmon species) and that I do wish Brenda Z. Guiberson had also featured information on global warming, as a warmer general climate also tends to mean warmer rivers, streams and oceans (but of course in 1993, global warming was not yet the major and all encompassing issue it is today, it is in 2022 and this does of course need to taken into consideration for Salmon Story).
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Originally published in German as Die Welt der wilden Tiere: Im Norden, it is Dieter Braun's glowing, expressive and often full page illustrations that are the true stars of Wild Animals of the North, that truly "make" this non fiction reference book for children. For artistically, Wild Animals of the North is, indeed, absolute perfection, presenting eighty realistically but also imaginatively (and painterly) illustrated animals in three chapters (animals of North America, animals of Europe and animals of Asia). Now some of the animals, the creatures featured in the specific sections of Wild Animals of the North are, of course, endemic to multiple continents, which fact should really have been both pointed out and explained, as it might, for example, prove confusing for children to see the moose listed as a European animal when it is also native to North America, just as the wolverine is endemic to both North America and Northern Asia. And while the illustrations for Wild Animals of the North are definitely worth five stars (and more), with beautiful shapes, both geometric and rounded, muted but still expressively bold colours, the same unfortunately cannot, in my opinion, be said with regard to the accompanying text. Although what narrative there is, is readable, descriptive and informative (and I especially appreciate that for each of the animals, its scientific classification, its Latin name, is also offered), I really do NOT understand why only about half of the depicted animals have actually been supplied with descriptive text. The remaining animals are illustrated, with their Latin classification featured, but no narrative descriptions, no additional information is given (which really does limit the teaching and learning potential of Wild Animals of the North, as does the fact that there are no suggestions for further reading, no lists of interesting websites, even the conservation statuses of the featured animals are not always included, and considering that a number of them are considered critically endangered, that is a serious academic shortcoming). Still highly recommended, but with the additional caveat that Wild Animals of the North is rather expensive, if not even a bit overpriced. Three Stars!
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Originally published in German as Die Welt der wilden Tiere: Im Süden, it is Dieter Braun's glowing, expressive and often full page illustrations that are the true stars of Wild Animals of the South, that truly "make" this non fiction zoology reference book for children. And artistically, Wild Animals of the South is, indeed, absolute perfection, presenting over eighty realistically but also imaginatively (and painterly) illustrated animals in five chapters, from five specific regions of the Southern Hemisphere (animals of Africa, animals of South America, animals of Southern Asia, animals of Australia and animals of Antarctica, but unfortunately and strangely, no animals endemic to New Zealand are included). Now some of the animals, some the creatures featured in the specific chapters of Wild Animals of the South are, of course, endemic to multiple continents, which fact should really have been both pointed out and explained, as it might, for example, prove a bit confusing for children to see the nine banded armadillo listed as a specifically South American animal species, when it is also endemic to the Southern reaches of the United States (and thus North America), that tigers are native to both Southern and Northern Asia, and that tapirs appear in both South American and South Asian habitats and ecosystems. And the illustrations for Wild Animals of the South are most definitely worth five stars (and more), with beautiful shapes, both geometric and rounded, muted but still expressively bold colours, the same unfortunately cannot, in my opinion, be said with regard to the accompanying text. Although what narrative there is, is readable, descriptive and informative (and I especially appreciate that for each of the animals, its scientific classification, its Latin names, are also offered), I really do NOT understand why only about half of the depicted animals have actually been supplied with descriptive text. The remaining animals are illustrated, with their Latin classification featured, but no narrative descriptions, no additional information is given (which really does limit the teaching and learning potential of Wild Animals of the South, as does the fact that there are no suggestions for further reading, no lists of interesting websites, and even the conservation statuses of the featured animal species are as a general rule NOT included, and considering that a rather goodly number of them are indeed considered critically endangered, and sometimes even close to extinction, this is well and truly a serious and frustrating academic shortcoming). Still highly recommended, but with the additional caveat that Wild Animals of the South is also rather expensive, if not even a bit overpriced for what it offers and presents. Three stars!
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Honestly, I do tend to be pretty stingy with regard to my five star ratings. And in particular with non fiction tomes geared towards younger readers, I will usually find something that even with books I highly recommend will make me consider four and sometimes even only three stars (and with the usual culprits being a lack of a bibliography or with omissions that I personally and intellectually consider problematic information oversights). And with Fran Wilkins’ 2007 The Whale Scientists: Solving the Mystery of Whale Strandings, it is precisely the fact that for one, Wilkins has included a not only appreciated but also a sufficiently lengthy and detailed list of suggestions for further reading (a bibliography listing both books and online sources and also the author’s personal communication with the whale scientists presented) and that for two, she equally has featured a short but informative section on both cetacean evolution and on whaling (not to mention that Fran Wilkins for me both appreciatively names and shames countries like Japan that are still commercially whaling) which does bring my star ranking for The Whale Scientists: Solving the Mystery of Whale Strandings to a solid and very well deserved five stars.
For while The Whale Scientists: Solving the Mystery of Whale Strandings and the details about whales stranding themselves and how scientists are trying to solve the reasons as to why and how to prevent this (or at least the human caused reasons why, and in particular issues with different types of ocean pollution, including noise pollution) are most certainly educational and interesting, it is for me as mentioned above the information about the evolution of whales, that author Fran Wilkins does not shy away from being totally condemning about any and all commercial whaling and that the included bibliographic materials are absolutely outstanding which truly do provide the icing on the cake and renders The Whale Scientists: Solving the Mystery of Whale Strandings very much and most highly recommended and not only for the intended audience of older children above the age of nine or so, but in fact also for interested adults who might want a basic introduction to whales and the science, the reasons for whale strandings but without textual convolutedness, a delightfully educational but at the same time also thought provoking text, where both Fran Wilkins and the whale scientists she features make readers both think and to realise that whales both need and deserve our protection and our help (and where the many colour photographs provide a very decent aesthetic accompaniment to the author’s printed words).
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So yes, I do really appreciate in and of itself that the presented and featured main character of Jean Craighead George's illustrated chapter book One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest is a Native South American. However, considering how many different ethnic groups do inhabit the rain forests of South America (and that there likely still might even be some as yet undiscovered and not yet contacted tribes) I really do think that Jean Craighead George should be a bit more specific and detailed regarding Tepui's tribal affiliations. Because of course, not all of the native peoples of the South American rain forests would be the same and have the same culture and behaviour patterns and I just find Jean Craighead George’s descriptions of Tepui a bit too generic and kind of like an annoying and frustrating one size fits all.
Furthermore, while the ecological tropical rain forest information textually presented in One Day in the Tropical Rain Forest is most definitely informatively educational enough (with Gary Allen's black and white artwork providing a very nice visual but also not really all that necessary for comprehension accompaniment) and that I also do very much appreciate and celebrate how Jean Craighead George does not shy away from unilaterally condemning massive rain forest destruction (and for whatever purpose), her rather pedantic narrational listing of details upon details and especially her constant focussing on the specific clock times of the day, this has most certainly made A Day in the Tropical Rain Forest rather repetitive and tedious as a reading experience and as such really more like a science lesson to be taught and learned than a to be enjoyed and delighted in story. And indeed, the only reason why I am still ranking A Day in the Tropical Rain Forest with three and not with two stars is simply but truly that I do indeed very much appreciate Jean Craighhead George's intent even if I have found her textual execution as leaving rather a bit to be desired (not to mention that I of course and also do very much appreciate the included bibliography on the last page of A Day in the Tropical Rain Forest, since for me, bibliographies do always appreciatively increase the teaching and learning values of their respective books).
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Before I start my review of David Suzuki's 2008 (longer) picture book There's a Barnyard in My Bedroom, I do have to admit that I am kind of smiling a bit that the Open Library copy of There's a Barnyard in My Bedroom I have downloaded and borrowed is in fact a discard from the Hamilton Public Library, from my own local library system (although I also do find it kind of problematic and sad that public libraries are obviously increasingly discarding books).
And yes, with regard to the book itself, while I do really find that the accompanying illustrations for There's a Barnyard in My Bedroom are not all that much to my aesthetic tastes, since I do personally consider Eugenie Fernandes' artwork a bit too cartoon like and visually exaggerated (and so much so that the drawings even tend to feel rather visually overbearing and potentially distracting at times), what the author, what David Suzuki textually presents in There's a Barnyard in My Bedroom is both interesting and generally engagingly presented, describing with many different examples that nature, that the outside also usually tends to exist inside (in our bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms etc. since oh so much of what we sleep on, what we eat, what we build with etc. originally comes from nature, originates in the forest, on the farm and so on and so on). And indeed, that even articles made of say plastic have a huge and strong connection to nature (and indeed also to the past), since the petroleum used to make plastic was millions of years ago part of a prehistoric forest.
A fun and educational romp is There's a Barnyard in My Bedroom, and also imbued with the important ecological and environmental message that because nature is everywhere and really also in everything, it (and its ecosystems) obviously also both need and deserve protection and conservation. And even though I have from my own aesthetics not really enjoyed Eugenie Fernandes' illustrations as much as David Suzuki's text, I do think that narrative and images work well enough together and especially for the intended audience, for children from about the age of six to ten or so (and yes, while from a personal reading pleasure point of departure, I would probably be rating There's a Barnyard in My Bedroom with a sold three stars, the fact that David Suzuki has also included both a detailed glossary and some activities makes me up my rating to four stars).
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Absolutely replete with interesting and delightfully educational scientific details upon details about the world’s oceans (from their respective sizes, that many ocean seamounts are in fact much higher than Mount Everest to the fact that climate change is threatening to severely increase sea levels), I do consider Seymour Simon’s Seymour Simon’s Extreme Oceans as being an absolute and wonderful treasure trove of presented sea and ocean facts and figures (pretty textually dense and thus more suitable for children above the age of eight onwards but thankfully Seymour Simon’s text is also always clearly and concisely penned, without using potentially confusing science jargon and with the accompanying colour photographs providing both supplemental visual information and a nicely rendered decorative trim).
Furthermore, I also do indeed totally, absolutely very much appreciate that Seymour Simon presents in Seymour Simon's Extreme Oceans his numerical data regarding sizes, weights, volumes and the like in BOTH imperial and metric amounts. For unfortunately, far far too often, non fiction picture books published in the United States do tend to present only imperial weights and measurements even though they are generally also marketed in Australia, Canada and Europe (in countries and areas of the world that use the metric system), and of course also vice versa, since I have equally noticed this same issue with many Canadian published non fiction picture books (that their measurements often only use and present metric numbers). And well, in my opinion, until every country of the world uses only one kind of measurement system, non fiction books and especially those geared towards children should really be presenting weights and measurements with both imperial and metric numbers, and I really do find it very much positive and cheering that Seymour Simon's Extreme Oceans obviously does so.
Four stars for the general text of Seymour Simon's Extreme Oceans and definitely recommended as a very informative and educational (as well as enjoyably readable) general introduction to pretty much every part of the earth’s oceans. However, due to the annoying non inclusion of a bibliography (no footnotes, no endnotes, no suggestions for further reading), academically frustrated I will be removing one star (and once again I do fail to understand why Seymour Simon has failed to not provide bibliographic materials for his otherwise really excellent Seymour Simon's Extreme Oceans, as non fiction in my opinion really should always require this).
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Although Seymour Simon’s The Dinosaur Is the Biggest Animal That Ever Lived & Other Wrong Ideas You Thought Were True is sometimes a bit (due to its 1984 original publication date) outdated with regard to the specific scientific examples Simon uses to explain and to prove why the ideas and legends featured in The Dinosaur Is the Biggest Animal That Ever Lived & Other Wrong Ideas You Thought Were True are mistaken, well and in my humble opinion, NONE of the thirty included examples are in fact ever wrong with regard to them being bona fide and actual scientific fallacies. For yes indeed, Seymour Simon generally and in my humble opinion truly does a great job explaining in a clear, concise and easy to approach manner precisely what makes them, what makes the latter wrong, what makes them “fake and make-believe” concepts and legendary stories not to be believed and as such absolutely not scientific truth.
And indeed, even when the author, when Seymour Simon makes use of explanatory examples that are now considered outdated, this not only does not ever change the fact of the scientific fallacies being this, there are now often numerous more current cases in point to be encountered that precisely do still show the same and prove the same. For example, in the very first section of The Dinosaur Is the Biggest Animal That Ever Lived & Other Wrong Ideas You Thought Were True, while since the early 1980s there have of course been more and more discoveries of larger and larger dinosaur fossils, the Blue Whale at present is still considered to be the largest animal ever to have lived.
Therefore, while an updated for the twenty-first century edition of The Dinosaur Is the Biggest Animal That Ever Lived & Other Wrong Ideas You Thought Were True might be nice since it would of course contain more recent examples to solidify Seymour Simon’s text, these are actually not required for making it factually scientific and solid, since Dinosaur Is the Biggest Animal That Ever Lived & Other Wrong Ideas You Thought Were True tells the whole science based truth and nothing but this even with it being from 1984 (and thus highly recommended, and I actually do not even mind the absence of a bibliography, although if one were included, my rating for The Dinosaur Is the Biggest Animal That Ever Lived & Other Wrong Ideas You Thought Were True would definitely be not four but five stars).
Oh and by the way, while the accompanying black and white artwork (by Giulio Maestro) does I guess provide a fun decorative trim, personally, I have personally found the illustrations a bit visually distracting and would in fact be enjoying Dinosaur Is the Biggest Animal That Ever Lived & Other Wrong Ideas You Thought Were True rather more if I only were seeing Seymour Simon’s printed words.
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While technically speaking, Sy Montgomery’s 2004 The Tarantula Scientist could of course be considered as a picture book (and yes, I find Nic Bishop’s accompanying photographs a superb visual mirror to and for author Sy Montgomery’s printed words, albeit the pictures of in particular the tarantulas do sometimes aesthetically feel a bit uncomfortably in my face with regard to their intense focus), I would personally and instead rather consider The Tarantula Scientist more as an illustrated science and biology themed textbook, narrationally geared towards children above the age of nine or ten, but certainly also with sufficient presented information and details even for interested adult readers (who might also enjoy and be enlightened by science based texts that are sufficiently detailed and intensive but without too much potentially confusing science jargon).
And yes and in my humble opinion, the author’s, Sy Montgomery’s writing and contents and how they are presented in The Tarantula Scientist do totally, do educationally and wonderfully provide a very much detailed and thorough (yet at the same time also straight forward and never textually overwhelming) introduction to not only tarantulas (in particular) but actually to arachnids, to spiders and their kin in general, including showing that tarantulas are considered to be living fossils (with their lineage dating back more than 150 million years), that there are actually many species of spiders which yet remain undiscovered and that featured tarantula scientist Sam Marshall is in fact one of only a handful of academics, of college/university scientists whose specific area of expertise is tarantulas (and indeed, with the inclusion of a glossary, general spider statistics and a short but sufficient bibliography of both books and relevant websites being not only the icing on an already wonderful cake for me but also moving The Tarantula Scientist far far above compared to similarly interesting science based introductions I have encountered but which annoyingly did not bother to include any bibliographic materials whatsoever).
Finally, considering that in The Tarantula Scientist Sy Montgomery spends much of her presented text depicting and analysing both Sam Marshall’s field work observing the largest tarantula discovered to date (the Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula) in the jungles of Guatemala and how Professor Marshall and his students also and equally study living, captured spiders at university, in Marshall’s laboratory, I do think that teachers, parents etc. should probably be prepared for their students, for their children to ask pointed questions as to why in order to study them, spiders are not just being observed on site (in their natural surroundings) but also in the artificial confines of a college/university lab. And no, I do not think that this is in any way either sufficiently answered or even all that much considered by Sy Montgomery, and well, in my humble opinion, it really should be. For while there are of course many good and scientifically sound, legitimate reasons as to why scientists specialising in spiders (and other invertebrates) must also be studying captured specimens, there are of course questions and considerations regarding the morality of and the justification for this, and indeed, that this is in my opinion all rather being ignored by Sy Montgomery is also the main reason why even though I do find The Tarantula Scientist in many, in most ways spectacular, my star ranking will be four and not yet five stars.
I'd like to recommend the Horrible Histories books by Terry Deary, they're fun, fairly accurate and tend to fascinate kids. Available in several languages.
Also, the spinn off series, Horrible Science by Nick Arnold
As well as the The Knowledge series, by various authors, including Murderous Maths
I haven't read all the books (they are on my bucket list, though), and know some are better than others, but overall they are great to get reluctant kids interested in these themes.
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Available in several languages.
Also, the spinn off seri..."
These do sound like fun.
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Indeed and obviously also to be expected because of its 1982 publication date, Howard Everett Smith’s middle grade Living Fossils (which on Open Library is being shelved as a picture book but is in my humble opinion rather more like a short science textbook in set-up and in feel, with quite a bit of presented text and some black and white accompanying pictures acting like a visual decorative trim) does have a few and also completely unavoidable for 2022 issues with datedness, in so far that the author, that Howard Everett Smith is obviously not going to be textually featuring and describing any living fossil animal and plant species (or groups, or classes) that have been discovered after 1982, like for example the Wollemia Pine (1994 discovery and found by three hikers in a remote Australian forest, a rare and critically threatened coniferous tree previously only known from Mesozoic fossils).
However and the above notwithstanding, I most certainly do consider Living Fossils as being engagingly penned, decently researched and delightfully educational without becoming textually overwhelming for younger readers (from about the age of nine or ten onwards). And yes, I also and definitely much appreciate Howard Everett Smith presenting his text for Living Fossils without scientific jargon, and also sans making use of either creationism or evolution, but just showing a number of living fossils, why they are deemed to be of ancient and unchanging lineages millions of years old, and that in fact ALL of the examples which the author provides in Living Fossils are still and very strongly considered as living fossils today, with the only minor difference being that for some of the living fossils Howard Everett Smith features, such as the egg laying monotreme mammals of Australia and parts of New Guinea, where in 1982, where when Living Fossils was written, there was as yet no solid fossil evidence of modern monotremes remaining basically unchanged for many millions of years, that this is kind of no longer the case today, in 2022 (since just like fossil horseshoe crabs, fossil meta-sequoias, fossil coelacanths and fossil cockroaches resemble their modern living counterparts almost totally except sometimes regarding sizes, scientists have recently found duck billed platypus fossils more than 150 million years old that look almost like carbon copies of today’s duck billed platypuses).
And therefore, even though there are a few (mentioned and pointed out above) issues with information being dated, or rather, not yet present in Living Fossils for reasons of the 1982 publication date, I do definitely think that Howard Everett Smith provides a very decently solid introduction with Living Fossils, but indeed, that the non inclusion of either source notes or a bibliography most definitely is academically frustrating for me, lessens the supplemental research value of and for this book and also makes me remove one star from my originally conceptualised four star rating for Living Fossils and leave only three, a high three stars to be sure, but it does most certainly get under my proverbial skin how many good and solid non fiction books for younger readers just do not seem to bother with including bibliographic materials.
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Both textually and illustratively, the set in Vietnam, generally fictional but based on true, on actual events and written and illustrated by two Vietnamese citizens (by Trang Nguyễn and Jeet Zdung respectively) graphic novel Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear (which was published in 2021 and is currently on the shortlist list for the 2023 Kate Greenaway Medal for Jeet Zdung's artwork) is not only delightfully, thoroughly educational, enlightening, but also beautifully rendered, engaging, and at times necessarily painful and uncomfortable (suitable for young readers from about the age of eight or nine or so onwards, but actually Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear should in my opinion appeal to anyone who is a fan of graphic novels as a genre, although I do leave the necessary caveat that the themes and the contents featured in Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear are definitely heavy duty and might as such be rather disturbing for the very sensitive, and in particular so that one illustration Jeet Zdung presents of the strapped down bear having its bile removed, of what actually causes the young girl Chang of the book title to decide to become and train as a conservationist).
Now first and foremost, I do very much appreciate that the environmental, that the ecological (zoological) horror stories and destruction created and caused by poaching and by capturing bears for their bile (including the Sun Bears featured in Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear) are not ignored by either the author or by the illustrator, although personally, I do think that Trang Nguyễn in particular should definitely be more textually specific and expansive in Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear with regard to not just how but also especially why bears are being poached and killed for their bile and as such absolutely relentless and critically nasty towards those "people" who purchase in particular traditional Asian (and especially Chinese) medicines containing bear bile, that the customers are just as much an issue and a problem as the poachers (and for me even more so and even more worthy of being totally and utterly shamed and condemned, as without the customers, the users and the demand for bear bile, there would of course also be no real need and importantly also no financial profits for poaching and for bear bile being"harvested" in the first place).
But generally, with my above mentioned reservations notwithstanding and actually also only rather minor, well, Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear indeed offers a very much decent, and in fact a pretty delightfully wonderful both textual and visual introduction to not only the Chang and the Sorya of the book title (with Sorya of course being a rescued Sun Bear that Chang is trying to rehabilitate so the bear can be released back into wild), but to Vietnamese wildlife and landscape in general, as well as to the destruction and threats that are happening all over Vietnam because of poaching and other types of human interference like habitat degradation, pollution and the like. And while I actually tend to not consider graphic novels a favourite genre, considering that much of my annoyances and frustrations often seem to come from me not being all that aesthetically into the cartoon-like illustrations that are part and parcel of many if not even most graphic novels, the fact that Jeet Zdung's artwork for Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear is not in fact all that much like a typical cartoon but is lushly painterly and with a three dimensional visual depth to it, yes, this has been marvellously refreshing and has also made Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear an utterly delightful both visual and textual treat for and to me (and I am definitely rather surprised that Jeet Zdung's more cartoon like and resembling manga human figures did not actually bother me at all).
Therefore and, yes indeed, Trang Nguyễn and Jeet Zdung, they both have created with Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear a totally magical but also enlightening and majorly thought-provoking marriage of text and images, and that definitely, the only reason why my rating for Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear is not five stars being that I do think that aside from the website for Free the Bears, there really should also be a list in Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear of not only books but also relevant websites for further reading and study about Vietnam, about Sun Bears and about the threats caused by poaching and the demand for exotic animal by-products that are key ingredients in traditional medicines and their cultural but dangerous for the environment and wildlife superstitions.
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Yes, my two star review for Julia and the Shark appears to generally be rather amongst the minority here. However (and no, I am actually not all that sorry either), I personally just have not enjoyed Julia and the Shark all that much or rather I should say that I have been unable to appreciate the combination of Kiran Millwood Hargrave's text and Tom de Freston's accompanying images for one major and all encompassing reason. For while textually speaking, Millwood Hargrave's presented story for Julia and the Shark is for the most part sufficiently engagingly penned, features generally decently developed and in depth characters (although that admittedly I as an academic with multiple advanced university degrees do tend to find the mathematician father and biologist mother rather one sidedly stereotypical and kind of a bit like the proverbial mad and obsessed scientists in scope), shows interesting and readable details regarding mathematics and zoology (and for the zoology angle in the form of the Greenland shark of the book title) and also tackles some pretty heavy duty topics such as bullying, mental health challenges and that scientists are often in need and in search of outside funding (which does not always materialise for a variety of sometimes very arbitrary and frustrating reasons), I really do majorly despise one aspect of de Freston's artwork for Julia and the Shark vehemently and with an almost palpable feeling of personal rage. Because and come on, although it becomes textually clear that in Julia and the Shark main protagonist and first person narrator Julia is being shown by author Kiran Millwood Hargrave as quite regularly and constantly being bullied at school and shamed primarily because she is not skinny, because she is rather plump and portly, why then are ALL the illustrations of Julia showing a thin and almost scrawny individual? And honestly, for Tom de Freston to draw, to depict Julia as someone who does not physically appear to be having a body weight issue, well, for and to me and as someone who has never been skinny, who has struggled with potential obesity all of her life and was also often bullied at school by both classmates and in particular by sadistic physical education teachers, sadly, what de Freston's pictures of Julia in Julia and the Shark tell to me is that while it might be fine and acceptable to write about someone who has body weight issues and is facing harassment etc. because of this, it is obviously still NOT alright to physically and visually depict the bullied victim as being physically large, that it is obviously still shameful and too problematic and "disgusting" to show obese children in illustrations even if the text, even if the writing does this, does write about and verbally describe children being fat shamed and the like. And frankly, I (and very much personally) totally find this aspect of Julia and the Shark majorly problematic, a huge and hypocritical dual standard and so incredibly uncomfortably annoying and infuriating that I really and truly cannot and will not consider more than a two star rating for Julia and the Shark (and yes, basically ONLY because of my above mentioned aesthetic issues with and aversions to the artwork, since without Tom de Freston's pictures, I probably would consider Julia and the Shark as likely a thigh three star reading experience but that the illustrations and de Freston basically depicting Julia as being thin while within the text proper of Julia and the Shark she is shown by Kiran Millwood Hargrove as chubby and experiencing bullying because of this, this just so utterly and totally and totally rubs me the wrong proverbial way).
Children's Books
Books mentioned in this topic
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Children of the Stones (other topics)
Children of the Stones (other topics)
Children of the Stones (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Zoë Tucker (other topics)Jenny Offill (other topics)
Katherine Applegate (other topics)
Katherine Applegate (other topics)
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And with regard to illustrated books, sure, add them as well, although I will be adding mostly (but not exclusively) longer picture books.
And yes, the focus on STEM can be positive, negative or ambivalent (as I for one am certainly with regard to STEM teachers in particular not going to limit myself to only positive and supportive portrayals, as I personally have had some horrible math and science teachers and will therefore attempt to present both types of instructors and both sides of the coin so to speak).
I am going to add a list of books I am planning on reading closer to the beginning of May. And no, this is not a to-be-read list for the club topic either, but which STEM books (or some of the books) I personally am planning on reading (or considering). Add your own, and remember that for this topic, not just fiction but also non fiction are to be considered.