Children's Books discussion

Handles (fiction) four stars, really love how Erica shows that she can be a mechanic, that she has the talent for this

While today, handles are basically online usernames for chatrooms, web forums, social media accounts and the like, the term actually dates back to the 1970s and comes from Citizens Band radio (better known as CB radio), a short-distance radio communications medium. And indeed, because truck drivers and motorcyclists using CBs would often identify themselves with unique nicknames, with so-called handles, considering that Jan Mark's 1983 Carnegie Medal winning young adult novel Handles thematically and content wise deals with motorcycle obsessed teenager Erica Timberley and her local East Anglia summer vacation of self discovery, of finding out who she is and what she wants to do with her life, of basically what her future handle is going to be, it also makes perfect sense for Mark to be giving her featured story the title of Handles.

But while Handles is definitely and first and foremost about Erica realising during her summer exile at her aunt's house that she is not only meant to adore motorcycles externally but that she also has the talent to do work on motorcycles internally (that Erica Timberley obviously should become and train as a mechanic and that this indeed should be her goal, should be Erica's future handle), it also needs to be pointed out that neither Erica nor author Jan Mark actually ever use the term handle in the presented text, but it is simply shown in Handles that Erica is a young teenaged girl with a passion for motorcycles (both the outsides and the insides of them) and that she during a summer that originally looks tedious and dragging accomplishes her goals of convincing those around her, both her family and her "motorcycle" friends, that while she might not be male (who are traditionally supposed to love motorcycles and to become mechanics), Erica definitely and certainly also must be considered as a mechanic or at least as one in the making, (since she has a total knack for this) and that Erica's love of and for motorcycles is totally acceptable, is totally wonderful (and with Handles, with Jan Mark thus providing a wonderful and even for 2023 totally necessary and important message regarding freedom of non gender dictated and directed personal choices, that Erica wanting to become a mechanic and having the know-how and the talents for mechanical physical work, that this should be celebrated and accepted as well as the fact Erica's brother Neil wants to train for being a practical nurse).

And finally, with regard to the textual specifics regarding Handles, although I personally am not and have never been all that thematically interested in either motorcycles or mechanics (and was for that reason at first a bit worried that Handles might textually feel too much like a motorcycle or vehicle mechanic textbook and drag on and on with tedious lists and how to explanations), no, this is thankfully not AT ALL the case here. For how Jan Mark presents Erica and her love of motorcycles in Handles, this is wonderfully realistic, nuanced, multi-faceted and balanced, and Mark's sense of early 1980s Great Britain with regard to both time and geographical place (Norwich, East Anglia) is absolutely spectacular, and with me in particular adoring the many neat little details that make Handles so delightfully of its time and for me, who was a teenager in the 1980s, feeling appreciatively and smilingly nostalgic (and enough so to rate Handles with a full and glowingly shining five stars).

Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth (non fiction) two stars, too many missing parts and problematic science, no bibliography

Well and sadly (but without any feelings of either guilt or contrition either), it looks like I am going to have to be an absolute and utter outlier with regard to my star rating for Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth (and which was originally published in Spanish in 2020 under the title of Paisajes Perdidos de la Tierra).

For while and just like with her illustrations for Landscapes of the Solar System, Aina Bestard's artwork for Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth is aesthetically spectacular, lushly detailed, both realistic and imaginative (but never once trivial or childish), and with the lift the flap parts and translucent pages providing the aesthetic icing on an already visually marvellous cake, sorry, but unlike with Landscapes of the Solar System, where my one and only textual complaint is the (but also really annoying) lack of a bibliography, with Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth I have academically speaking found both the (and once again) absence of a bibliography (and which like with Landscapes of the Solar System really does make me livid) Marta de la Serna's general text for Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth rather problematic with regard to scientific rigour and with regard to providing a decent and also an accurate and truthful account of the history of life on earth to and for the intended audience, to and for young readers from about the age of eight or so onwards. Because while there is indeed lots of interesting textual information provided by de la Serna (and by extension of course also by translator Matthew Clarke), I am personally not all that impressed with and by what is textually being featured in Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth, as there are simply for me too many missing bits and pieces and too much that I would consider problematic and even erroneous, even downright wrong with regard to contents (with regard to the scientific information being textually shown).

For one, many parts of Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth simply do not contain enough relevant ands essential details and thus end up being rather confusing and potentially misleading (such as for example Marta de la Serna claiming that life on earth seemingly began with the atmosphere becoming oxygenated, for while this is of course correct regarding the rise and proliferation of complex multicellular life, unicellular life on earth started without much if any atmospheric oxygen present, that oxygen was in fact a byproduct of cyanobacteria and their photosynthesis and that without this, complex life would likely never have started in the first place and certainly not so all encompassingly, so completely). And for two (and for me much more of an issue and the main reason why Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth can only ever be rated with two stars by me) is that there is featured text which I for one consider really and truly problematically wrong. I mean, why does Marta de la Serna's words (and Matthew Clarke's translations) seemingly read like there was only ONE mass extinction and that the K-T boundary event of 66 million years ago (which glitched the dinosaurs and caused the rise and the proliferation of mammals and also of birds) should be put on some kind of a pedestal above and beyond everything else, when the extinction event at the end of the Permian era was in fact much worse and actually almost caused life itself to be obliterated? And that in Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth ONLY the K-T boundary event is shown and described (and other mass extinctions in fact totally being ignored), this is for and to me massively scientifically unsound and also plays up that ridiculous idea and concept of dinosaurs somehow being more important and essential than any other prehistoric animals.

Thus and also considering how this type of attitude has massively bothered me since my own childhood, indeed, a book like Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth (and geared to younger readers) that has the author, that has Marta de la Serna (and her translators) totally focussing on dinosaurs with regard to extinction and really only on dinosaurs, for me, this most definitely makes Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth scientifically lacking, academically unsound and as such also not a book I would consider recommending for in particular teaching and learning purposes (and not to mention that de la Serna also does not really point out in Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth that stromatolites are in fact the oldest currently known living fossils, that mammals were part of the Mesozoic era as well and that birds are now considered not just close cousins to the dinosaurs but in fact a type of dinosaur that in fact survived the mass extinction even 66 million years ago, and that for me much of the text encountered in Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth is rather substandard, yes, this is all really majorly annoying, and that Aina Bestard's wonderful artwork for Planet Life: The Amazing History of Earth might well be visually delightful but is totally not in any way enough and sufficient by any stretch of my imagination).

Landscapes of the Solar System (non fiction) three stars, good and current introduction to the solar system, but no bibliography

I am rather annoyed and disappointed at only being able to grant Landscapes of the Solar System (which was originally published in Spanish under the title of Paisajes Desconocidos del Sistema Solar and is of course with its 2022 publication date really up-to-date and current regarding the astronomy, regarding the science being featured) but three stars (although yes, I do still quite highly recommend Landscapes of the Solar System). For yes, Aina Bestard's presented artwork for Landscapes of the Solar System, it is absolutely aesthetically brilliant and stunning, with much colourful (albeit sometimes a wee bit too darkly hued for my eyes) visual detail providing a spectacular, imaginative but also realistic accompaniment to and for the presented textual data and information presented in Landscapes of the Solar System by the ALMA (by the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array, the biggest radio radio telescope in the world, located in Chile's Atacama Desert) and by astrophysicist Dr. Antonio Hales (translated into English by Matthew Clarke), albeit that yes, I do kind of wish that aside from Bestard's glorious and superbly rendered pictures, there would also in Landscapes of the Solar System be included actual photographs of the sun, the planets, the asteroid belt and the like. Because while I of course (and as already clearly shown) visually totally and utterly adore Aina Bestard's artwork, I personally do kind of want and prefer a combination of both drawn pictures and photographs for Landscapes of the Solar System. And well, regarding the actual textual portions of Landscapes of the Solar System, Dr. Anthony Hales (and the ALMA radio telescope data) feature and present a nicely detailed introduction to basically every part of our solar system, from its place in the universe and in the Milky Way galaxy, to the sun, the individual (now eight) planets, why Pluto's status as ninth planet changed to being a dwarf planet in 2006 (with much both numerical and verbal current and as such also not dated information), simply but informatively and above all scientifically penned and suitable for young readers from about the age of eight or so onwards but in my opinion for anyone wanting a basic and scientifically sound, academically straight-forward account regarding the solar system and where there is also no textual silliness and/or forced humour and authorial chattiness ever being encountered but only interesting and enlightening details on the solar system and on the aptly named diverse, intriguing and fascinating Landscapes of the Solar System.

But as much as the combination of text and images for Landscapes of the Solar System has been pretty much five stars for me (and yes, even with the absence of photographs), that there is no bibliography provided in Landscapes of the Universe with titles (with books, websites etc.) for further reading and study, well, this does majorly annoy and infuriate me (and enough so to lower my rating for Landscapes of the Solar System to only three stars). Because honestly, considering that Landscapes of the Solar System is entirely non-fiction and as such totally scientific in scope and nature, I personally do find the non inclusion of secondary sources rather hugely academically problematic and seriously reducing the supplemental research and thus also the educational value of Landscapes of the Solar System (and no, simply mentioning the ALMA telescope is for me not sufficient by any stretch of my imagination), and not to mention that an astrophysicist with a PhD like Dr. Antonio Hales should certainly and definitely know better than to not provide academic sources for a presented text. And while I still do think that Landscapes of the Solar System is a very decent and also a nicely scientifically sound textual introduction to our solar system, the absence of bibliographical materials is for me a major and a hugely problematic oversight and faux pas.

Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure (fiction) two stars, do not like anthropomorphic animals and there is a lot of rather questionable science (and no bibliography)

Before I commence with my actual review of Torben Kuhlmann's Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure (which has been translated from the author's original German Edison: Das Rätsel des verlorenen Mäuseschatzes by David Henry Wilson and is a 2019 Mildred L. Batchelder Award honouree) I have to admit that I find it rather interesting and also kind of strangely ironic that although mice in particular are often and rightfully so considered as being pests and vermin (and that our Anglo-Saxon noun mouse is even derived from the ancient Sanskrit musha which signifies a thief) there are considerably more positive and often even very much heroic stories of anthropomorphic mice in children's literature than there are tales of human-like mice behaving negatively and despicably (which indeed, considering their nasty reputation as vermin I for one consider this at best a bit weird in and of itself, but perhaps also partially so because I just do not all that much either like or appreciate mice as animals and therefore tend to find in particular mice talking like humans and acting like humans rather annoying and creepy, and yes, even in novels that are clearly meant to be a bit fantastical).

Thus with the above in mind, yes, I did in fact approach Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure with a bit of trepidation and indeed also rather a major lack of personal reading interest. And truth be told, I only considered reading Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure in the first place because the Children's Literature Group is reading the 2019 Mildred L. Batchelder Award books in June and my local library also happened to possess a copy of Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure since I was certainly not interested enough to consider purchasing a copy of Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure, as the thematics of mice attending university, of mice having travelled to the moon and in Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure of mice travelling to the bottom of the ocean to look for some huge and important treasure just did not all that much if at all tickle my reading fancy in any way.

And while I have definitely found author/illustrator Torben Kuhlmann's accompanying pictures for Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure aesthetically awe-inspiring and delightfully, imaginatively detailed (and often full page pictorial spreads at that), and although I can equally see how and that Kuhlmann's (and of course by extension Wilson's) presented verbal text is both engaging and also enlightening and historically, scientifically informative, with my at best only grudging acceptance of mice as characters in children's literature, Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure would have had to have been truly absolutely special for me to have really and fully enjoyed my reading experience, and no, this definitely has not been the case. As while Torben Kuhlmann's aesthetically lovely and lushly detailed illustrations certainly have managed to retain my interest regarding what happens to Pete and the professor and whether they manage to locate their desired treasure, the printed words, the verbal narrative of Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure really does read a bit sub-standardly, draggingly, unscientifically and to and for also bit like a fairy tale with an annoying and frustrating deus ex machina like ending (with Pete and the professor almost immediately in the located ocean shipwreck finding Pete's ancestor's locked sea-chest, which then also and naturally, magically houses the required information that Pete the mouse's ancestor in fact and indeed helped Thomas Alva Edison invent the first light bulbs).

Three stars for Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure, but rounded down to a high two stars, for while I do appreciate that Torben Kuhlmann has included supplemental historic and scientific information on both the invention of electric light and on Thomas Alva Edison at the back of Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure, he really should have, he really needed to also list his academic sources and suggestions for further reading and study regarding both Thomas Edison and the invention of electric light. And yes, while as a German and even hailing from the same home town as Heinrich Göbel (from Springe), I am thrilled that Torben Kuhlmann points him out in Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure, considering that Heinrich Göbel's claims that he was in fact the real inventor of the electric lightbulb and not Thomas Alva Edison have always been at best rather controversial, a source list of where Torben Kuhlmann has found his information on Göbel is in my opinion absolutely necessary here. For in my academic opinion, it now just seems as though the blurb in Edison: The Mystery of the Missing Mouse Treasure on Heinrich Göbel just exists to perhaps even discredit Thomas Edison, which is unfortunate, as I did in fact do a bit of supplemental research on Heinrich Göbel, and for one, he never actually claimed that he invented the electric lightbulb and for two, after he immigrated to the USA, Heinrich Göbel considered himself an American and would probably have been rather aghast at as well as furious how his name has been used over the decades by some (including the Nazis) in Germany to make him appear not only as the true inventor of the electric lightbulb but also as someone who supposedly was shafted and cheated by Thomas Alva Edison, how he has been portrayed as some unfortunate German victim of American arrogance.

Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World (non fiction) two stars, factual inconsistencies, hard to read and with artwork I find ugly

REVIEW OF THE KINDLE EDITION

Yes, there certainly are a large amount of interesting and educational details provided by author Rachel Ignotovsky about the fifty pioneering women of science being presented in Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World (from Hypatia to Maryam Mirzakhani) and unfortunately but of course also naturally, Ignotofsky’s mini-texts are equally at times rather frustrating in scope and feel, considering that we all know how hard women have had to fight to be recognised and accepted as legitimate scientists and indeed that even today, there are still far too many barriers for women at both the educational and also at the job level. However, the very obvious and annoying fact remains that with the Kindle edition of Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World, I for one have most definitely found the general format and textual set-up to be annoyingly reader unfriendly, with a font size that is so minuscule it has been almost impossible for me to read with any kind of ease and this even when I am wearing my strongest reading glasses and zooming in (and having to be constantly doing the latter is totally and utterly infuriating and painful anyway and thus not leading to either reading pleasure or even retaining my interest enough to keep reading Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World in and with any kind of specific detail).

And as such, I have really only been willing and even able to skim through Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World rather cursively and very generally (since being forced to peruse the tiny tiny scripts of the Kindle edition and constantly having to make use of the zoom function was definitely and totally giving me a massive headache). But even vaguely skimming through Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World has already shown me that there sadly are problematic factual errors encountered with some of Rachel Ignotovsky’s printed words (and far too often with Ignotovsky making the living, working and educational conditions and the struggles faced by a number of her selected women of science being shown as considerably worse and more dire than they in reality were, such as for example for Maria Sibylla Merian and Lise Meitner, whose life stories I am quite familiar with and who both encountered much more active family support than Rachel Ignotovsky ever textually shows), and that therefore and in my humble opinion ALL of the author’s presented information should definitely be read and approached with more than a bit of caution and not be simply uncritically believed (and of course to also check the included bibliographic materials to verify what is truth and what is not or not quite reality).

But yes, considering the absolutely horrible and visually painful Kindle edition font size, my issues with possible factual inconsistencies and errors regarding Rachel Ignotofsky’s featured narratives and that I also do majorly find the accompanying artwork visually strange, oddly coloured and gratingly distracting, I really and truly am only willing to grant two stars maximum for Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World and to certainly NOT AT ALL consider recommending the Kindle edition to interested readers.

The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner (non fiction) five stars, wonderful biography

There indeed is a lot that is totally and utterly spectacular and delightful regarding Marissa Moss' 2022 middle grade biography The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner (and I for one am also rather hoping that The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner might even be considered as a possible Newbery candidate because perosnally I do think Marissa Moss and her The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner richly and majorly deserve being considered).

Yes, Lise Meitner faced many difficulties and obstacles trying to obtain for herself the education and the academic choices she desired (in late 19th and early 20th century Austria and Germany). But unlike other biographical accounts about Lise Meitner I have read in the past (and which had actually and problematically tried to claim that Meitner's family did not support her pursuit of advanced post secondary education and that a large part of Meitner's struggles for this was also supposedly mostly if not only because she was Jewish), author Marissa Moss thankfully, fortunately and from page one onwards of The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner makes textually absolutely certain that her readers know and realise that Lise Meitner's parents (and in particular the father) ALWAYS SUPPORTED AND ENCOURAGED their daughters (with older sister Gisela studying medicine and Lise studying physics) and that the one main reason why until the laws changed in Germany in 1908, Lise Meitner could not attend university was absolutely NOT because she was Jewish but because of her gender, because she was female (in other words, until 1908, NO women were allowed to officially attend a German university, period, and it was Lise Meitner's "wrong" gender that was the "problem" and the obstacle and not at all her Jewish background and cultural heritage (and indeed, the latter in fact only became an issue and a threat post 1933, post the Nazi takeover of the German government, so indeed and in my opinion, any author claiming that Lise Meitner had problems obtaining her education due to her ethnicity and not due to her gender is simply wrong, wrong, wrong, and I sure am glad that Marissa Moss does not ever fall into said trap in and with The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner).

Now as much as I have absolutely and totally enjoyed (and also academically appreciated) reading The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner, I also do not consider The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner to be perfect and as such above criticism, as I personally do find it more than a bit uncomfortable that in the author's note Marissa Moss seems to (in my humble opinion) engage in a bit of victim blaming regarding the fact that Lise Meitner at first did not consider herself as a rather conservative physics professor in good academic standing as being in any real danger from the Nazis due to her Jewish background, with the unfortunate result that Lise Meitner kept waiting and waiting and hoping for the Nazis to calm down a bit until she almost ended up stranded in Germany (and we all know what would have likely been the horrible outcome for Lise Meitner had this happened). But hindsight is always 20/20, and it is sadly true that many more conservative, more right wing leaning Jews in Germany and Austria did not at first realise just how much of am all encompassing threat the National Socialists were and would be to and for them (and considering that this rather simplistic and dangerously optimistic attitude was also the case with regard to many European nations like for example the United Kingdom with its policy of Appeasement, who are we to really in any way pass judgment and to simply be labelling the Jews who failed to understand the Nazis as being a danger as naive and as foolish, as this seems to have been common and global).

But even with there being for me some very minor textual issues with The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner, Marissa Moss's narrative, her printed words are spectacular, readable, interestingly, engagingly penned and also very nicely relatable (although I personally do have to admit finding the short graphic novel bits at the beginning of each chapter somewhat visually distracting). A solid four stars for The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner but upped to five, as the supplemental materials Marissa Moss has included (timelines, a glossary, mini biographies of the scientists mentioned, notes and last but not least a very decent bibliography) are not only outstanding, they also move The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner from very good to absolutely and totally superb and great.

Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us (non fiction) four stars, informative but a bit one sides as all about mostly parasites

Well first and foremost (and for me very much delightfully), the basic set-up of Albert Marrin's 2011 Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us is both visually pleasant and also wonderfully young reader friendly, with a large font size for Marrin's featured text (and which in my humble opinion definitely makes the author's rather information heavy writing much much easier on the eyes than if the words were printed in a tiny and squashed fashion), a very good use of adequate white space, frequent pictures, diagrams and a bibliographical section that not only has chapter divisions (and suggestions for both younger and older readers) but also lists not only books but also a decent list of internet resources. And indeed, my only (and very) slight annoyance and complaint regarding the general layout for Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us is namely that considering the brightly coloured book title cover image, it to and for me is a bit of a potential visual detriment to have ALL of the included photographs and diagrams for Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us appear completely and utterly in black-and-white, that in particular young readers just moving on and up from picture books, might well feel a bit visually cheated by the complete lack of any colour whatsoever within the pages of Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us (especially since the book cover image does indeed show parasites sporting really bright hues).

Now as a non fiction tome on parasites (human, animal, plant, and with Albert Marrin also showing that parasites are everywhere and that even parasites themselves will generally also have their own sets of parasites, which biologists call hyperparasites) The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us is meticulously researched, engagingly, educationally written and also seems to be informationally accurate and up-to-date with regard to current, contemporary parasitology understanding and knowledge (by 2011 standards of course). And Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us is equally and most fortunately thoroughly and decently enough presented with regard to the required information and details without becoming overwhelming and without Albert Marrin textually showing off by using too much biological, scientific jargon, that yes indeed, Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us provides a wonderful general introduction to parasites and to parasitology for both older children from about the age of nine or ten onwards but also in my humble opinion for interested adults desiring a concise, extensive but not overly detailed textual representation covering what one needs to know regarding parasites (including how our understanding regarding parasitical pests and how to deal with and approach them has changed over the centuries, and how in centuries past, many parasites were much more common and much worse due to a generally bad and insufficient regard for basic hygiene).

But even though Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us has most definitely been a solid and also enlightening four star reading experience for me, I would probably not actively consider recommending this book unless potential readers are actually and specifically interested in learning about parasites (and in fact, I only read Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us in the first place because the Miscellaneous Club of the Children’s Literature Group is featuring Creepy Crawlies as its August topic). For while Roger Marrin does manage to keep Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us relatively free of goriness, horror and holds back from absolutely disgusting textual portrayals and representations of parasites, parasitical infections and epidemics, well, ONLY parasites is the topic of Little Monsters: The Creatures that Live on Us and in Us, and due to this, what is thematically written and shown by Roger Marrin is of course and by its very nature rather disgusting, and dealing mostly with disease etc. simply because parasites often if not even usually do cause and spread disease.

Living Fossils (non fiction) three stars, interesting but annoying grammar and syntax gaffes and the section on Darwin feels tacked on

Well, if I were to rate Cass R. Sandak's 1992 middle grade non fiction picture book Living Fossils ONLY with regard to what the author has content wise penned about so-called living fossils, my rating would likely be four and perhaps even five stars.

For I have certainly found Sandak's presented text for Living Fossils generally engagingly penned, well researched and also very much educational, with me actually even discovering a few living fossil species and classes about which I did not know and some that I certainly did not consider to be living fossils, such as of course being well aware of famous examples like the coelacanth fish, the limpet like neopilina and the eponymous cockroach but not realising that dragonflies have like cockroaches also not changed much for over 300 million years and that both the duck-billed platypus and the opossum are also deemed to be living fossils and so on and so on, may I add, since Cass R. Sandak certainly presents a very detailed and plethora of examples with generally very decent and very informative descriptions. And furthermore, I also do appreciate that Sandak in Living Fossils considers not only animal living fossil species and groups, but also microscopic life and plants (like ginkgoes and horsetails), that he/she generally does a very nice job explaining why living fossils are in fact called living fossils, and that the included bibliography for Living Fossils is most definitely more than sufficiently detailed (but of course will only include books published before the publication date of 1992).

But sadly, there are two textual issues that I have personally found regarding Living Fossils, and certainly, these are in my opinion also not really all that minor in scope either. For one and hugely infuriatingly for and to me, although Cass R. Sandak's presented narrative for Living Fossils is (as mentioned above) readable and interesting, there are unfortunately about four instances where what Sandak has written is either not grammatically correct or features syntactic awkwardnesses. And really, considering that Living Fossils is primarily geared towards younger, towards middle grade readers from about the age of eight to around twelve, well, in my opinion, grammar and sentence based penmanship mistakes really should not be allowed to occur (and that at the very least the author, that Cass R. Sandak should have had an editor check his/her grammar and style before the publication of Living Fossils). And for two, although I actually have no problems with either Charles Darwin or with his theory of evolution, Cass R. Sandak having a chapter on this in Living Fossils, it feels not only rather tacked on and not that well incorporated into the text proper, well, having a section on Darwin for Living Fossils really is (in my opinion) not all that necessary anyhow and might also and sadly make readers, parents and teachers who are very strongly opposed to the theory of evolution hesitant considering Living Fossils as acceptable reading materials (and that would to and for me really be unfortunate, as the information and details Cass R. Sandak presents on living fossils is content wise really pretty spectacular and that a reader in my opinion totally does not need to read or even to know about Charles Darwin or evolution to textually appreciate and enjoy a perusal of Living Fossils).

Fossil Fish Found Alive: Discovering the Coelacanth (non fiction) three stars, good information but often too much on the scientists and not enough on the coelacanth

I do have to say that I ended up being more than a trifle textually conflicted regarding Sally M. Walker's 2002 Fossil Fish Found Alive (which basically details the 20th century discovery of the coelacanth, a lobe finned fish only known from fossils and which had in fact been considered totally and utterly extinct for millions of years, and that yes indeed, it looks like the intended audience for Fossil Fish Found Alive is readers from about the age of eleven or so onwards, but with the coelacanth information and details provided by Sally M. Walker also making Fossil Fish Found Alive suitable for adult readers seeking a general and not overly complicated introduction to the coelacanth).

But sadly and also totally honestly, even though I did end up learning a huge and appreciated amount of interesting and enlightening information and details on the coelacanth as specific and very rare type of fish from my perusal of Fossil Fish Found Alive and definitely much that I in fact did NOT AT ALL know (regarding not only the discovery of the coelacanth and that it is in fact a bona fide so-called living fossil, but also meticulously researched details about what it looks like, what coelacanths might be eating, how they are thought to reproduce and the not insignificant barriers to studying and also conserving, saving the increasingly rare coelacanths, and that I also really appreciate how Sally M. Walker provides with Fossil Fish Found Alive a very detailed and wonderful bibliography featuring books, articles from periodicals and also online resources), sorry, but my reading pleasure (and my love of learning) has certainly been somewhat lessened for Fossil Fish Found Alive due to two rather annoying and frustrating factors (and enough so to only consider a three star rating for Fossil Fish Found Alive).

For one, although the contents and details regarding coelacanths and their surprising 20th century discovery appear to be extremely well researched and that I also much appreciate the textual absence of biological, scientific jargon from Sally M. Walker's narrative (since this certainly does make Fossil Fish Found Alive easy enough to understand even for readers at the younger end of the intended audience spectrum), well, both my adult self and also my inner teenaged reader have still found parts of Sally M. Walker's featured text, and in particular her writing style for Fossil Fish Found Alive rather a bit tediously dragging (and that Walker also rather seems to focus at times more on the individuals who discovered and are studying and doing research on the coelacanth than on the latter, on the fish itself, both annoying and frustrating).

Finally and for two and considerably more of an issue for me personally, I certainly am left wondering why with Fossil Fish Found Alive Sally M. Walker basically does not really ever thematically examine the status of the coelacanth as a fossil fish in any real detail, that she basically only points out that the coelacanth is a living fossil but never seems all that interested in trying to speculate, to consider why the coelacanth is in fact a living fossil, why it as a species, as a group of prehistoric fish survived for millions of years while basically all the other similar lobe finned fish (except for the rather peculiar lungfish) became extinct. And indeed, I do find this really an academic shortcoming from Sally M. Walker, since for me, a living fossil is primarily of interest because it is in fact a living fossil, because it has managed to survive (and that in Fossil Fish Found Alive Walker basically only focuses on the current status of the coelacanth and not really in any way sufficiently on it being a living fossil, this does rather bother and annoy me).

The Radium Woman;A Youth Edition of the Life of Madame Curie (non fiction) three stars, dated writing style but a nice introduction to Marie Curie for the 1930s

The Radium Woman is a Marie Curie biography penned by Eleanor Doorly (and adapted for children from the 1937 biography by Curie's daughter Ève, and which I might now also consider reading). Published in 1939 (and in my opinion most suitable for readers from about the age of nine to fourteen or so), The Radium Woman was awarded the fourth annual Carnegie Medal as the best children's book by a British subject and is also one of the very few non fiction books to be awarded the Carnegie Medal.

And yes, even though as an older adult reader (who tends to like biographies concise, unexaggerated and also kind of removed, impersonal and with not too much featured textual emotionality) I do rather tend to find Eleanor Doorly's narrational voice for The Radium Woman somewhat too personally involved and often annoyingly verbally ecstatic, well to be honest and to be entirely truthful, if I had actually encountered The Radium Woman as a child reader (when I was the age of the intended audience), not only would I have found being personally and emotionally drawn into Marie Curie's life and times by Eleanor Doorly utterly charming and delightful, I also would have simply proverbially lapped up all of the meticulous and minute details of everyday life which as an adult reader I am at times finding a bit tedious and not all that important and necessary for and to me.

But my inner child totally and absolutely does textually adore every little bit about The Radium Woman (Marie Curie's early life in Poland as Manya Sklodovski, with her then studying and excelling in science in both Warsaw and in Paris, up to when in France, Manya, now calling herself Marie, falls in love and marries Pierre Curie, and with him discovers Radium, is awarded the Nobel Prize and also changes science and opportunities for careers in science for especially women). And I thus also absolutely understand and appreciate The Radium Woman being awarded the 1939 Carnegie Medal, even though I certainly do not really find The Radium Woman equally readable as an adult and often stylistically quite a bit dragging. Therefore, while I do warmly recommend The Radium Woman as a very decently interesting and engaging biography for younger readers (for the above mentioned nine to fourteen year olds), personally, I also definitely do think that Eleanor Doorly's text and in particular how she is depicting Marie Curie's life style wise as not necessarily being universally suitable for both children and adult readers alike, that The Radium Woman in my humble opinion definitely works better for a younger audience, and that adults, or at least that some adults, that those of us who do not like overly involved and meticulously detailed biographical depictions could very well find The Radium Woman rather a bit of a reading chore.

Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical & Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths (non fiction parts and folklore) three stars, interesting but also rather problematic

Although there is a lot to textually enjoy (and in my opinion for both younger readers/listeners and also for adults) with professional Storyteller Susan Strauss' 2022 illustrated anthology Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths, sorry, but if I consider this book, if I look at Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths as a whole, as a textual entity, I am left a bit conflicted on an intellectual, on a folkloristic and mythological level.

Sure, Strauss has selected a nicely diverse collection of global myths, folktales and a few fables (from the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia, although she has sadly not bothered with either Australia or New Zealand), and how these stories are presented and retold by Strauss in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths feels in my opinion mostly culturally and ethnically respectful (and I really do enjoy and appreciate that sometimes Susan Strauss actually adds snippets of the languages in which her included stories would have been originally told and/or penned for added textual authenticity). However, and that having been said, Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths is also not what one would call "own voices" and all of Susan Strauss' featured and shown literary and oral sources are not this either, since Strauss' acknowledgements in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths generally only do seem to harken back to not in "own voices" historical recordings and texts and seemingly just to these (which for a book published in November 2022 is in my opinion rather lacking, a bit thoughtless and that in my opinion, Susan Strauss should be trying to find the original and more "authentic" sources of and for her included tales as well and to at the very least acknowledge these and the cultures, the peoples from where the tales in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths have come alongside of the historical sources and names, since yes, especially many Native American and many African tribes now both want and also even require this and often consider "outsiders" taking their often secret stories, and retelling them, writing about them without consultation etc. as being inappropriate, problematic cultural and ethnic appropriation).

And with this in mind, while as mentioned before, I actually do enjoy the stories Susan Strauss has used in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths in and of themselves and think Strauss' retellings generally sound decently culturally appropriate, if I were reading these tales with or to younger readers, I would for one and definitely mention that Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths is not "own voices" and I also would probably skip the Storytelling Art section for each of the tales (since it is in said chapters, that the lacking acknowledgements are most prevalent and that I also must admit I find it really strange how often Susan Strauss in the Storytelling Art parts of Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths compares her included myths and folktales to the Brothers Grimm's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and to such an extent that I almost am left thinking that Strauss might well seem to consider this one tale as somehow being the root for a majority of the stories found in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths, which I consider both strange, hugely problematic and also just plain wrong, just erroneous).

Now with regard to the accompanying scientific information on agriculture, botany and how each story featured in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths has a scientific exposé thereof by University of Edinburgh professor Ian Edwards, while said information is definitely interesting, it also (for me) kind of destroys the magic and the mythological, the spiritual aspects of the stories (and yes, the lack of an included bibliography is also most annoying and frustrating). Because basically, I enjoy the global myth and folklore tales Susan Strauss presents in Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths for their contents, for their spirituality and mythology and being shown by Ian Edwards how science supposedly mirrors these stories, well, that is definitely and certainly intriguing but also and personally speaking textually frustrating and definitely making the storytelling pleasure and the folkloric, mythologic joy of the tales dissipate and sometimes even completely vanish.

But I do even with my above mentioned textual issues with Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths still recommend this book (although with certain caveats and reservations, as shown above). For the stories Susan Strauss has chosen are indeed wonderful, the accompanying artwork by Gretta Johnson is lush and visually, colourfully stunning (and even though Ian Edwards' scientific analyses of the tales bothers me a bit and takes away from the textual joy and magic of Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical Agricultural Wisdom in World Myths, it is still very interesting, and I do know that there likely would be many readers and listeners who would like the way the tales have been linked to agriculture and botany much more than I have).

The Story of Your Home (non fiction) fiver stars for me, but dated and hard to find (but a great intro to British architecture)

I have thankfully found a way to read Agnes Allen's The Story of Your Home for free (and which I do appreciate since the online copies available for purchase are pretty crazy expensive). However, it sadly was a very badly falling apart copy with almost half of the pages missing (and as such, I actually do not know if The Story of Your Home has an included bibliography, but I am assuming so). And happily, from what I did read, from what I have been able to read, I have indeed totally enjoyed the presented text and am equally glad that The Story of Your Home was awarded the 1949 Carnegie Medal (and is also one of very few non fiction books thus accoladed).

Now in The Story of Your Home, Agnes Allen begins with early humans and engagingly, with wonderful enlightenment takes her readers (from about the age of ten or so onwards) through the history of British architecture, showing how houses have evolved over time. And in the process, The Story of Your Home also gives historical contexts and how the social conditions of the time have helped to shape building practices.

Superbly researched and detailed, the combination in The Story of Your Home of Agnes Allen's text and the many usefully detailed black and white illustrations (drawn by Agnes Allen and her husband) help the reader to visualise the houses being described and to understand the different techniques with which the featured homes were constructed (and much better than if The Story of Your Home were to only feature words and no accompanying artwork). And while some of the reviews I have read online seem to rather lament the fact that there are only black and white and no full colour pictures and that there is also not an a real "story" to be found in The Story of Your Home, for me (and both for my adult self and my inner child), both Agnes Allen's text and her and her husband's illustrations are delightfully interesting and equally totally, absolutely wonderfully engaging, leaving my rating for The Story of Your Home as a full and appreciated five stars (but with the necessary and required caveat that I also would only recommend The Story of Your Home for readers who are interested in British history and British buildings, as indeed, the themes presented by Agnes Allen are pretty specific and narrow, not problematic for me, of course, but other readers might want something not so specifically focussing on the history of British houses).

A Valley Grows Up (fiction but sounding like non fiction) four stars, lovely but quite dated in places

Although Edward Osmond's 1953 Carnegie Medal winning A Valley Grows Up depicts how an English valley has changed from 5000 BCE to 1900 AD (which represents a seven thousand year time span) and is also one of only four non-fiction books to have been awarded the Carnegie Medal, with the others being Eleanor Doorly's The Radium Woman (1939), Agnes Allen's The Story of Your Home (1949) and Ian Wolfram Cornwall's The Making of Man (1960), considering that Edward Osmond's featured valley is actually fictional and has thus never in fact existed in reality, I for one kind of consider A Valley Grows Up as neither fiction nor non fiction but instead existing somewhere in between. And while many of the reviews I have read regarding A Valley Grows Up seem to consider Edward Osmond's presented text as being too dry and for that reason equally too textbook like, well, I for one (and both my adult self and my inner child) have definitely found Osmond's writing style more than sufficiently engaging and the wealth of historical detail and information featured in A Valley Grows Up both enlightening and interesting, the occasional and sometimes I admit even a bit problematic thematic and content based datedness totally and in my opinion notwithstanding.

Now with regard to Edward Osmond's accompanying artwork for A Valley Grows Up (and yes, he is both author and illustrator), albeit his pictures are aesthetically pleasant enough for and to me, it is actually the writing, it is what is textually being shown in A Valley Grows Up which makes me textually smile, as for me, Osmond's pictures, they are a nice decorative trim but not really all that essential for his well researched and well penned words to exist, to flourish and to be appreciated.

Four shining stars for A Valley Grows Up, and yes indeed, A Valley Grows Up has been not only delightful, I also totally stand by the fact that I am rather an utter history nerd and am thus finding Edward Osmond's writing both thematically and also stylistically wonderful, readable, and of course majorly personally appealing. But I also must leave the necessary caveat that if a reader (either young or older) really does not enjoy history, well, then he/she should probably simply not bother with A Valley Grows Up (but to also not complain regarding the fact that the main thematic focus of Osmond's narrative is first and foremost historical and informational, for I am most definitely and annoyingly feeling more than a bit attacked and denigrated by reviewers not into history making it seem as though my interest in the latter and my enjoyment of A Valley Grows Up should somehow be an object of condemnation and criticism).

The Making of Man (non fiction) two stars, dated and even for 1960 (in my opinion)

I honestly do not really understand why in 1960, the Carnegie Medal was awarded to Ian Wolfram Cornwall's non fiction The Making of Man (as supposedly being the very best that the UK had to offer regarding literature geared towards younger readers for that particular year). Sure, I do realise that for 1960, what Cornwall thematically and content wise writes in The Making of Man about fossils and how humans (supposedly) evolved from primates (and are indeed primates) seems to be up to date and pretty much totally mirrors the scientific of knowledge of the time. But no, I would personally never ever consider using The Making of Man in a contemporary classroom or for home schooling, as there simply is too much presented information in The Making of Man that is now due to its 1960 publication date either no longer all that readily and universally accepted, such as Cornwall claiming that tree-shrews are considered to be the ancestors of primates or not yet known in the 1960s like the fact that most people with European background also have Neanderthal and that some people of Asian background have Denisovan alongside of Home sapien DNA. But even if I can readily accept that the datedness of the scientific fact and theories Ian Wolfram Cornwall presents in The Making of Man simply represents the nature of the academic beast so to speak, well and unfortunately, I also (personally) do tend to find Cornwall's tone of narrative voice in The Making of Man to be kind of arrogant, patronising and with its "I know something my readers do not know" attitude potentially offensive and not all that child reader friendly.

And yes, even though my inner child certainly considers the scientific details of The Making of Man sufficiently interesting, she also feels preached at and talked down to, and this would also have been the case had I encountered The Making of Man as a young reader, and so much so that for me, The Making of Man is just not Carnegie Medal worthy, since aside from the grating and holier the thou stylistic tone, Ian Wolfram Cornwall not including a bibliography and end or footnotes in The Making of Man really and truly makes me rather majorly livid (especially considering that the author is a university professor and should thus in my opinion definitely know better).

And finally, while I do generally like M. Maitland Howard's illustrations for The Making of Man, I do think that a combination of both Howard's sepia pictures and some actual photographs would work much better and also give a more complete visual accompaniment to and for Ian Wolfram Cornwall's words.

The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness (non fiction) three stars, interesting but a bit unscientific, and I wish the author were a bit less into letting cats roam free and feeding wild birds (or would at least see the potential issues)

Now at first I was a bit (more than a bit) taken aback and frustrated when author Gary Bogue points out in the preface to his 2003 The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness that the main textual body of The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness is generally not to be based on science, on solid and research based biology, ecology and the like but will instead be showing mostly Bogue’s personal observations of urban and suburban wildlife in the San Francisco area (from birds to insects, including human introduced exotics) and as such also for the most part non scientific speculation (as I was kind of hoping for solid research and science oriented findings and was thus more than somewhat disappointed that this would really not be the case with The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness).

And I guess I should also point out the obvious truth of the matter here, and namely, that all of animal species being featured and described by Gary Bogue in The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness, they are naturally going to be either endemic to the San Francisco area or that they appear there as non native, as invasive species, so that bird species etc. which for example only appear further to the north or to the east will of course not make an appearance in The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness, but that naturally, bird and other animal species that are pan North American in their distribution more than likely will be considered by Gary Bogue if they reside, if they live and reproduce in the San Francisco area. But yes, even though the preface of The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness did leave me rather disappointed and also a trifle annoyed, I did (and do) appreciate that Gary Bogue readily admits what this book does and what it does not do, and I therefore have decided to continue reading The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness (for indeed, I was and remain definitely also more than sufficiently interested in Bogue’s wildlife observations and also wanted to read how he proposes humans and wildlife to successfully and peacefully coexist in urban and suburban areas).

And indeed, Gary Bogue’s presented contents, his wildlife observations, Chuck Todd’s black and white delightfully realistic black and white accompanying animal sketches, as well as Bogue’s engaging and personable writing style and narrational tone, this all has certainly made even originally rather grumpy and muttering with annoyance I (after the not what I was wanting and expecting preface) both appreciate and also quite enjoy the main text of The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness.

Because both what Gary Bogue has been observing over the decades regarding urban wildlife both small and large in and around San Francisco and also his suggestions in The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness to and for potential readers regarding how to be good neighbours regarding wildlife like coyotes, gophers, raccoons, various bird species, and even snakes, insects, frogs and the like (mostly about leaving animals alone, not deliberately harassing them, not feeding them, keeping pets inside or restrained while outside), this has been both interesting and educational, and with my only real issue regarding the main text, the main part of The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness being that in my humble opinion, Gary Bogue should definitely be considerably more all encompassingly negative and critical regarding in particular cat owners letting their felines freely and unsupervised roam outside.

For in my humble opinion, domestic cats should actually be approached as an invasive species and since outside roaming domestic cats are reputed to gratuitously kill millions of songbirds a year, maybe The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness should also be far more openly and wholly condemning regarding pet cats being allowed live and hunt outdoors, and furthermore and finally, that with The Raccoon Next Door: Creatures of the Urban Wilderness maybe Gary Bogue should also at least consider the possibility that feeding wild birds (even though it is hugely popular and on a global level) might in fact not always be something that protects, nourishes and causes wild birds to thrive and successfully breed (and that feeding birds also attracts predators, including the above mentioned cats).

Die Wolke (fiction about a nuclear accident) three stars, important but one sided and message heavy

Gudrun Pausewang's 1987 novel Die Wolke (Fallout), about a large scale nuclear accident/disaster in what was then still West Germany and its devastating, far reaching consequences, was published only one year after the 1986 Chernobyl incident and is in my opinion a heavy-duty, gripping, generally painfully unpleasant (albeit also very much engaging and important) reading experience, suitable, acceptable for older teenagers above the age of fourteen or so (and thus, the same age as the main protagonist, Janna-Berta, who is indeed fourteen).

Now basically, Die Wolke is a doomsday (and dystopian) type of scenario of what happens (or more to the point, of what realistically speaking might occur) in Central Germany during an all encompassing nuclear accident scenario akin to what transpired at Chernobyl. After the nuclear reactor at Grafenrheinfeld malfunctions and releases massive clouds of radioactive gases etc., Janna-Berta's parents and youngest brother Kai are killed by nuclear fallout and her other brother Uli is then fatally run over by a car as the two try to escape by bicycle and make their way to Hamburg where their aunt lives, Hamburg being located in an area of Germany not directly affected by the radiation, by the nuclear fallout. But while Janna-Berta survives, due to her having been exposed to radioactive rain and mist whilst on the road, whilst attempting to flee, she does lose most of her hair due to radiation sickness (and although the authorities, although both the government and the military attempt to downplay the scope of the tragedy, it soon becomes public knowledge that well over 18000 people have been killed, with many more tens of thousands seriously and likely chronically ill due to radiation exposure).

The most academically interesting but at the same time also the most saddening and infuriating consequence of this nuclear chaos is that not only the authorities but also many members of the general population (German civilians) so desperately want to move on, want to as soon as possible forget what has happened that victims like Janna-Berta are ignored, actively avoided, told to cover up their bald heads and even at times actively blamed for the resulting miseries. But thankfully, and even though this is all very very painful for her, Janna-Berta refuses to simply comply and cower, to submit (and at the end of the novel, at the end of Die Wolke, Janna-Berta directly confronts her disbelieving grandfather, who had been on vacation in Spain with his wife and had thus avoided the tragedy, by removing her hat, showing off her radiation induced baldness and telling her grandparents clearly and succinctly, without even remotely attempting to shield them, the terrible fact that she is the only member of the family still alive, that the mother, the father, and the two brothers are all dead, have all been killed either during the nuclear disaster or immediately afterwards, and that what her grandfather had derided and snarkily condemned as a ridiculous disaster fairy tale not to be believed is indeed and in fact the whole and awful truth).

Now as a novel, Die Wolke is clearly a story that author Gudrun Pausewang has written with a very specific, obvious and clearly rather propagandist agenda and purpose in mind, namely to warn her readers about the potential dangers of nuclear power (to in fact make older children, teenagers, in other words her intended audience actively fear nuclear energy, to point out that nuclear reactors are far from safe and really nothing more than a dangerous accident, a disaster, chaos waiting to happen). And even though I myself have always been more than a bit leery of nuclear energy and worried about how inherently safe nuclear power plants are or even can be, I do indeed and still rather wish that the general storylines, that the contents and themes of Die Wolke might have been a bit more nuanced and less didactically in one's proverbial face (as the constant preachiness of the author, her attitude of no compromise do often feel like one is being talked down to, that one is being actively educated and that no criticism, that no counter arguments are in any way desired).

And considering that Gudrun Pausewang truly seems to desire to warn her readers of the dangers that nuclear power and nuclear reactors can pose, I actually think she is kind of defeating the purpose here so to speak by making her novel, by making Die Wolke so overly one sided, reactionary and alarmist (as her preachiness, as her tendency to without any type of nuance and compromise be so totally utterly against nuclear power in general has, in fact, made Die Wolke a much more controversial and not nearly as acceptable, believable and universally appreciated story than if the events portrayed had been rendered a bit less one sided and universally against all nuclear energy, period). Two and a half stars, rounded up to a very low three star ranking, as I have indeed much enjoyed reading Die Wolke (and also do appreciate and even tend to agree with many of the messages featured and presented), even if Gudrun Pausewang's oh so obvious didacticism and blatant propagandist writing style majorly leave rather a bit to be personally desired and in my opinion are even potentially kind of insulting to children, to teenagers, actually to anyone reading the novel (as most of us are in fact and indeed more than well aware that there are potential and problematic safety issues and risks with nuclear reactors, and especially with some of the older models).

The Snow Cats (non fiction) four stars, but wish that the author had specifically singled out how traditional Chinese medicine has created a huge problem since some very popular remedies used big cat body parts

Yes and most definitely, author Phyllis J. Perry with her 1997 The Snow Cats does a really wonderful textual job introducing basic feline history and evolution in general and the so-called snow cats, the species of wild cats that live and hunt in the northern and often snow covered areas of North America, Europe and Asia in particular. And no, Perry is not in the two chapters of The Snow Cats where she presents feline evolution and development writing anything at all about Darwin’s theory of evolution, she just points out how cats and other carnivores (dogs, civets and mongooses, raccoons, bears, cats, hyenas, weasels, eared seals and earless seals) are all supposed to be descendants of an early meat eater called the Miacid (from around 40 million years ago) and that the first true cat Dinictis evolved and morphed into two main classes of cats, the biting cats Felidae and the stabbing cats Machairodontinae, but that today, only the Felidae class of cats is still in existence, that the stabbing cats, including the well known from its many fossilized skeletons Sabre Tooth Tigers are extinct and have been so since the last Ice Age.

Now with the remaining chapters of The Snow Cats, Phyllis J. Perry focusses exclusively on North America, Northern Asia and Europe, so if you are for example wanting information on lions, Jaguars, cheetahs etc. The Snow Cats is most definitely not a book to be considered, as it presents ONLY information and details on the Siberian Tiger (but naturally not on the Bengal Tiger), the Snow Leopard, the Cougar, the Lynx and the Bobcat. And yes, each of these five species of wild felines are meticulously and with much but also not overwhelming textual detail described by the author in The Snow Cats (from basic biology, breeding cycles, hunting practices to their general conservation status, and with Phyllis J. Perry also and thankfully not being at all shy about mentioning and pointing out that many wild felines, including tigers and cougars, face far far more dangers from humans than vice versa and that habitat destruction and illegal hunting are still a total global threat to and for snow cats and especially so considering that greedy and unscrupulous tourists often see no problems with purchasing tiger skins or snow leopard furs in countries like Pakistan and India and that the fur industry has also not at all been doing its job controlling this and working with the authorities against indiscriminate hunting of vulnerable and endangered cat species for totally ridiculous and unnecessary “fashion” purposes).

Four stars for The Snow Cats (and yes, Phyllis J. Perry's text is in my opinion perfect not just for middle grade readers but also for interested adults wanting a solidly basic introduction to the five featured species of wild felines, and with the included bibliography being not all that extensive perhaps but a good and decent starting point for further search). And the only reason why my rating for The Snow Cats is not yet five stars is that for one, I do think that Phyllis J. Perry should be listing the addresses and websites of some animal conservation organisations and that for two, Perry really should have majorly and unapologetically singled out traditional Chinese medicine and that in particular tigers have been unscrupulously hunted because tiger parts are somehow considered as potent medicines and aphrodisiacs by superstitious and selfish humans, who seemingly care only about themselves and their desires, and to whom and for whom tigers and other wild felines are basically not living beings but objects to be ruthlessly killed and disgustingly exploited.

Keltenfeuer (fiction, and only in German) three stars, one sided villains, but clearly shows that there can be issues with regard to excavating ancient tombs

Although Dietlof Reiche's Keltenfeuer (the title means something like Celtic Fire in English and no, the novel has unfortunately not been rendered into English although I do believe that there is a Dutch translation available) has at times felt almost a tiny bit too intense and thrilling and with a trifle too much constant action for someone like myself who actually does tend to want her historical fiction more descriptive and less full of action and excitement, Keltenfeuer has indeed still been a generally delightful and also educational, enlightening personal reading experience (since the author, since Dietlof Reiche has certainly done his research regarding prehistoric mainland European Celtic culture and lore and has actually also raised some rather important and intriguing questions and concerns regarding the responsibilities of contemporary archaeologists and that perhaps old tombs and potentially sacred earthen mounds might well harbour dangerous secrets which should likely be left alone and undisturbed and not just be dug up, analysed and gawked at for either knowledge or treasure hunting, making money). And with my only really problematic annoyance with Keltenfeuer being that Dietlof Reiche has once again and like in his novel Geisterschiff made the main villains (and especially the character of Danny Reiter) almost stereotypical evil, greedy and total monsters of unbridled capitalism, Keltenfeur has definitely been a generally lovely and engaging German language Middle Grade children's literature diversion and one that even with my issues with stereotypical villains I do highly recommend, although fluency in German is definitely required.

But indeed, I cannot give (even with my delight in and enjoyment of Keltenfeuer) more than a three star maximum ranking, as really and truly, in my humble opinion, a bit more balance and nuance with regard to the main villains and antagonists encountered would certainly make this otherwise excellently and strongly penned historical fiction novel, would make Keltenfeuer and Dietlof Reiche's featured narrative considerably more realistic and believable (and yes, this even with the fantastical element of an ancient Celtic aristocratic woman and her war-crazy companion being disturbed in their hillside tomb mound by archaeological digging and emerging in presnt-day Germany to engage in mayhem and confusion). For while in Keltenfeuer, Léon, Kathrin, Léon's mother, Kathrin's family and even all of the Celtic interlopers do feel like one is reading about real flesh and blood humans with both negative and positive character traits, in particular unscrupulous businessman Danny Reiter (as already alluded to above), well, he is simply just a total cardboard image of a nasty and unscrupulously one-sided industrialist par excellence (and as such, he does become rather a tedious entity to have present in Keltenfeuer and indeed, I also and furthermore have to wonder why the author, why Dietlof Reiche could not have made his Danny Reiter character even if still greedy and annoying just a bit more humane and multi-faceted and not so annoyingly and frustratingly one-sidedly villainous and with resulting ridiculousness and groan-worthy tediousness).

Verhext und zugenäht! (fiction, as episodes about a chemist and not being careful regarding experiments) three stars, has a part about chemistry but not positively depicted

Originally published in Flemish under the title of Trijntje Buskruit (which means Trijntje Gunpowder in English), Silke Schmidt's German language translation of Bea de Koster's text (and which is titled Verhext und zugenäht!) is basically a fun and episodic "little witch" type of story, with nothing all that developed character wise and featuring a narrative that is also rather on the surface and thus lacking a bit of depth, but which has still been an engaging and massively entertaining way for me to spend about half an hour or so of reading time on Open Library (and honestly speaking, sometimes that is all I want and need from a book, and with me definitely smirking and giggling quite often regarding Bea de Koster's/Silke Schmidt's text for Verhext und zugenäht!, including finding the German book title both clever and also hilarious, as Verhext und zugenäht! is of course and obviously a word play on the idiomatic expression verflixt und zugenäht and would mean something like darn and blast in English).

And just to point out, there are definitely some similarities between Verhext und zugenäht! (and of course also by extension the Flemish original) and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books (and in particular with author and translator having a Tarnkappe present, showing an invisibly hat that is very similar to Harry's invisibility cloak and that the street where Max Magie has his shop of witchy merchandise certainly feels very much like Diagon Alley for and to me). But well, be that as it may, my inner child has definitely very much enjoyed reading the various episodes of Verhext und zugenäht! (and indeed has also found the similarities to the Potter novels decently fun in and of themselves) and really does adore how main protagonist and little witch Bea Blocksberg (the Trijntje Buskruit of the original) is not only likeable, helpful (even if majorly scatterbrained and unorganised) but also busily and happily making friends with both her often rather grouchy neighbour and with the overly protected and controlled by an annoying helicopter mother children of her apartment building's superintendent (and yes, I do really textually enjoy how in much of Western European children's literature, intergenerational friendships are not only promoted and celebrated but are generally seen as something entirely natural, positive and hardly ever as uncanny, as strange or potentially problematic).

Three stars for Verhext und zugenäht!, warmly recommended (and with Silke Brix-Henker's black and white accompanying artwork providing a nicely rendered decorative trim that sweetly and successfully mirrors the verbal fun presented with and by Bea de Koster's text and of course also Silke Schmidt's translation, although part of me does kind of wish that the original illustrator's pictures had been retained for Verhext und zugenäht! as I am rather keen on Gerda Dendooven's artwork), a story that is not all that nuanced and does not present anything all that deeply philosophical and thought-provoking but simply features a fun and engaging little tale of delightful witchery and friendship (but with the caveat that in order to read and understand Verhext und zugenäht!, readers will of course and naturally need to have a decent German language fluency and that with the original, with Trijntje Buskruit, readers will obviously need to be able to have and do the same with regard to Flemish or with Dutch).

Now I do have to add the following considering the above mentioned Harry Potter novels similarities. For while I do stand by having noticed this in Verhext und zugenäht!, it is true that the original Flemish text, that Trijntje Buskruit was actually published pre Harry Potter (in 1990) but the translated German edition post Harry Potter (in 1999). So now I am of course wondering a bit whether Bea de Koster's original narrative actually contains the Harry Potter similarities I have noticed in Verhext und zugenäht! or if they might have been added by Silke Schmidt in her translation. And of course, if Trijntje Buskruit has those Harry Potter like textual parts in 1990, could J.K. Rowling perhaps have somehow been inspired and/or influenced by Bea de Koster, (although this probably would not be the case as it does not look like Trijntje Buskruit has ever been translated into English, as I can only find Verhext und zugenäht! as translations).

The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World (non fiction, not strictly geared towards young readers, but in my opinion suitable for ages twelve and onwards) three stars, too much speculation by the author, but a very good bibliography

As a pretty strict biography of Mary Anning (from when her parents after their 1793 marriage decided to settle in Lyme Regis to Mary's death from breast cancer in 1847 at the relatively young age of only 47) Shelley Emling's The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World is both highly entertaining and richly enlightening, with a presented textual flow that makes reading both fast and generally very much enjoyable (and appreciatively so, Shelley Emling's writing style is also never either dragging or too difficult, never makes gratuitous use of either problematic scientific jargon or overly complex syntactic and grammatical structures).

And indeed, as very much a history buff, I also do greatly appreciate that in The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World, we as readers do also, aside from reading about Mary Anning's life and achievements (and especially of course about her fossil discoveries and her contributions to the emerging science and field of palaeontology), receive both interesting and also very much necessary and important information on the history of England (and specifically from the late 18th to the middle of the 19th century, from late Georgian times to the age of Queen Victoria), the history of science (particularly the conflicts regarding fossil discoveries, the changing attitudes towards the geologic age of the earth, the theory of evolution) and also details on women's rights and on how much of a pioneer and how extraordinary a fossil hunter and self-taught scientist Mary Anning really and truly was (and with all of this delightfully enlightening information parallel to the specific and minute details concerning Mary Anning's life, giving us in The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World a thorough and wonderfully complete portrait not just of Mary Anning the person but also of early 19th century England and of the emergence and the increasing acceptance of palaeontology, that fossils were the remains of prehistoric creatures and that the earth was equally and in reality much older than 600 years of age).

However and my in many ways massive and complete appreciation and enjoyment of The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World and of Shelley Emling's printed words quite notwithstanding, I do have to admit that the rather constant and continuous author speculations do rather majorly frustrate and annoy me (and have certainly also rather thus somewhat majorly lessened my reading pleasure). For it has indeed been at best a bit frustrating to on the one hand read all this solidly factual and well-researched biographic and historic material and then have it in my opinion rather massively weakened by the author constantly wondering what Mary Anning (and other featured individuals) might have thought, could have done, should have considered. And yes, the only reason that I am still quite willing to grant three and not two stars to The Fossil Hunter: Dinosaurs, Evolution, and the Woman Whose Discoveries Changed the World is that I really and truly have indeed very much enjoyed my reading time and that I can (I guess) also to a certain point even mostly ignore Shelley Emling's speculations and still thus enjoy this in all other ways outstanding biography for what it is, for a straight and fact-based offering, for an account which both celebrates and glorifies Mary Anning's life and many achievements.

The Manatee Scientists: The Science of Saving the Vulnerable (non fiction) four stars, excellent, but wanted also information on Dugongs

So yes, with regard to the presented textual information regarding manatees as a species (and I indeed also much appreciate the included excursion on Manatee evolution pointing out that manatees are NOT related to either cetaceans or pinnipeds but in fact to elephants) I do very much find it cheering that Peter Lourie’s 2011 illustrated non fiction zoological tome The Manatee Scientists: The Science of Saving the Vulnerable not only features the West Indian Manatee (which inhabits the waters off of the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico and is especially and universally known and indeed loved by in particular tourists in Florida) and what is being done by biologists like John Reynoulds to count, study and protect them, but yes, that the lesser known manatee species (which inhabit the Amazon River and coastal waters off of much of Africa) are equally and also meticulously described and presented (with information on their physiologies, their lives, but also showing that in the Amazon and in Africa, manatees are still often being hunted for food and that therefore in The Manatee Scientists: The Science of Saving the Vulnerable author Peter Lourie also and by necessity shows how in the Amazon and in Africa Dr. Fernando Rosas and Dr. Lucy Keith are not only monitoring and studying manatees but also trying to convince locals to no longer actively hunt manatees and consume their flesh).

Now with regard to the general set-up and textual presentation (including Peter Lourie’s verbal flow and general writing style), The Manatee Scientists: The Science of Saving the Vulnerable is rather densely penned (and thus not really a book meant for young children), however and in my humble opinion, still verbally simple enough so that the target audience, so that older children from about the age of nine to twelve or so will learn much about manatees without the risk of them becoming narrationally, textually overwhelmed (and that yes, The Manatee Scientists: The Science of Saving the Vulnerable is in fact also suitable for interested adult readers who might want, who might need a basic but thorough introduction to manatees without encountering annoying and frustrating scientific subject specific jargon).

And finally then, combined with the personally totally, absolutely appreciated fact that amongst the many supplemental learning (educational) details encountered in The Manatee Scientists: The Science of Saving the Vulnerable Peter Lourie has also included two specific bibliographies (one listing books, one listing websites), for me, The Manatee Scientists: The Science of Saving the Vulnerable provides a solidly delightful, educational and thorough without ever becoming tedious or dragging introduction to manatees (and with my only reasons for rating this book, for ranking The Manatee Scientists: The Science of Saving the Vulnerable with four and not with five stars being that for one, I do wish that Peter Lourie’s text would also at least briefly mention the closely related to manatees and even more vulnerable Dugong, and that for two, while the accompanying photographs are certainly sufficient visually appealing, they have also not really aesthetically wowed or awed me in any way).

101 Questions and Answers about Dangerous Animals (non fiction) three stars, a bit too much into showing how animals are dangerous (and not how many of these animals face much more danger from us)

So with regard to his 1985 101 Questions and Answers about Dangerous Animals, I certainly and definitely do really much appreciate that Seymour Simon textually never once loses sight of the inconvenient fact and truth that us humans in fact are the most dangerous animal to and for ourselves, that we actually face the biggest and most all encompassing threats NOT from large cats, not from sharks, rodents, bats, insects and the like but from each other, from other humans, as criminal assaults, armed conflicts, car accidents, bombings, physical abuse etc. both injure and kill far MORE people than ANY one animal species (but that we are of course equally not just threats to and for ourselves but indeed to and for the entire planet, to and for even those animals considered to be dangerous, and well, I do rather wish that this particular factoid were featured just a trifle more prominently by the author, by Seymour Simon within the text proper of 101 Questions and Answers about Dangerous Animals).

Furthermore, I also very much believe that in 101 Questions and Answers about Dangerous Animals Seymour Simon does in my opinion still spend just a bit too much text time narrationally trying to for example point out (in particular) the threats to humans posed by large cats such as tigers, lions, jaguars etc. (not to mention that the information regarding the dangers posed by sharks is from where I am standing equally a trifle overly exaggerated in 101 Questions and Answers about Dangerous Animals, for in reality, ALL sharks face much more potential destruction from habitat loss, from over-fishing, pollution, and that they are becoming increasingly threatened with regard to their very survival than any dangers swimmers, surfers, divers, fishermen will ever face from sharks). And combined with there equally not being an included bibliography in 101 Questions and Answers about Dangerous Animals, while I do appreciate that Seymour Simon makes a very decent effort showing that for the most part animals considered to be dangerous are much less so than us humans are, for me and to me, 101 Questions and Answers about Dangerous Animals is still not yet more than three stars (as indeed, the lack of secondary sources certainly rather majorly lessens the teaching and learning values of 101 Questions and Answers about Dangerous Animals and is rather unacceptable with regard to academic soundness).

The Wollemi Pine: The Incredible Discovery of a Living Fossil From the Age of the Dinosaurs (non fiction, not geared specifically towards younger readers but suitable for ages twelve and onwards) four stars

Well, regarding James Woodford's 2002 The Wollemi Pine: The Incredible Discovery of a Living Fossil From the Age of the Dinosaurs, there is certainly much contained within the pages of this book that is textually both delightfully interesting and also majorly and intensely educational (and yes, when I started reading The Wollemi Pine: The Incredible Discovery of a Living Fossil From the Age of the Dinosaurs on Open Library, I also immediately checked if Woodford has included a bibliography, and he has indeed done so, and it is both detailed and research friendly).

And with regard to what James Woodford has presented, we as readers of The Wollemi Pine: The Incredible Discovery of a Living Fossil From the Age of the Dinosaurs receive from his pen not only a meticulously detailed account of the September 10th, 1994 discovery of the Wollemi Pine by David Noble, Michael Casteleyn and Tony Zimmerman in a remote and quite inaccessible Australian forest area abutting on the capital city of Sydney, no, we also find much information about living fossils in general, how Wollemi Pines might have survived unchanged for millions of years, as well as how Antartica moving to the polar regions of the Southern Hemisphere when Gondwanaland broke up then doomed this erstwhile lush and verdant landmass to being henceforth covered with huge masses of thick ice, and that the more recent ice ages have left areas like Northern Canada, Scotland, Scandinavia etc. with a serious paucity of deciduous trees.

But even more essential, and even more special (at least for me) is that in The Wollemi Pine: The Incredible Discovery of a Living Fossil From the Age of the Dinosaurs James Woodford enlightens us regarding the Wollemi Pine living fossil without EVER making use of annoying and frustrating scientific jargon, and that I most certainly and massively do appreciate being able to not only read but to also completely understand every single part of James Woodford's presented text of The Wollemi Pine: The Incredible Discovery of a Living Fossil From the Age of the Dinosaurs without needing, without requiring a college/university or even a senior high school level knowledge of and education in biology, palaeontology, botany, living fossils and the like, that basically EVERYTHING biological, that everything scientific is explained simply, concisely and in a manner that makes The Wollemi Pine: The Incredible Discovery of a Living Fossil From the Age of the Dinosaurs suitable for ANY interested reader from about the age of thirteen or so onwards (and that high school biology teachers should in my opinion seriously consider using The Wollemi Pine: The Incredible Discovery of a Living Fossil From the Age of the Dinosaurs in the classroom, but to also take into consideration that since The Wollemi Pine: The Incredible Discovery of a Living Fossil From the Age of the Dinosaurs was published in 2002, that more recent details about Wollemi Pines such as the fact that Wollemi Pines do rather well as cultivars and that the area where the Wollemi Pines were found was endangered by fire during the 2019 and 2020 Australian bushfire season but that the pines happily were saved by specialist firefighters dropping flame retardants on the grove, this all will of course and naturally not be part of James Woodford's featured text).

Highly and warmly recommended is The Wollemi Pine: The Incredible Discovery of a Living Fossil From the Age of the Dinosaurs, and with the only reason for my rating being four and not five stars being that I do personally think that James Woodford sometimes spends just a bit too much time on the human discoverers of both the Wollemi Pines and other examples of living fossils (and that this does in my opinion take some textual space away from science).

The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife (non fiction, not written specifically for younger readers but suitable for ages twelve and upwards) five stars, excellent

With The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife trained zoologist, award-winning documentary film producer and now author Lucy Cooke introduces and showcases thirteen diverse animal species (from freshwater eels to chimpanzees) to not only give readers detailed and informative (engagingly recounted) portraits of the latter, but to also and equally demonstrate how our own actions and behaviours, how mankind's approaches to wildlife (and how human superstition and our tendencies to anthropomorphise and impose our often restrictive moral and ethical codes on other animal species) have often lead to major misunderstandings regarding the lives, the purposes and the general roles in a given ecosystem for animal species such as sloths, bats, hyenas, vultures etc. (that we are very quick to both condemn and even sometimes strive to actively annihilate animal species that we consider to be imbued with such negative human personality traits as cruelty, laziness, even the potential for evil, although in the majority of cases, these animal groups are both perfectly suited and adapted to and for their habitats and yes, like for example with bats, hyenas and vultures actually do play important general roles keeping vermin in check by devouring billions of insects or preventing the spread of disease by scavenging, by consuming mostly or primarily flesh from the deceased, from animal and yes, if unburied, even human corpses).

Now while I was reading The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife, it also became rather painfully obvious that in particular natural philosophers and scientists have sadly and frustratingly over the millennia, over the centuries been some of the absolutely worst offenders and villains with regard to imposing human characteristics, human superstitions, fears and animosities on animal species other than ourselves (claiming, for example, that beavers were socially organised construction companies and that bats supposedly were sexually deviant, even though their sexual practices are actually very much like our own, for bats as a species are in fact more closely related to primates and thus also to us, to humans, than to ANY other mammal species), not to mention the already alluded to above vehement and silly opposition to and often active hatred of scavengers (even though they provide such an important and essential general global service).

But even more problematic is the sad and true fact that for "science" for "discovery" both amateurs and professionals have repeatedly both then and also still sometimes even now often viciously and cruelly tortured the very same animals they have been studying. And yes, I was rather unpleasantly surprised and disgusted at and by this (although in retrospect, I probably should not have been) when I read about the multiple instances of "scientists" actively and very much deliberately maiming, blinding, deafening bats in order to study how they hear and how they fly at night, or that before we figured out that many birds migrate in the fall to warmer climates, there was for example the idea floated around that swallows submerged themselves in water to wait out the winter, and of course this was then tested by deliberately drowning the poor birds and then trying to (and of course unsuccessfully) revive them (and while I have indeed found all of this presented factual information most interesting and enlightening, it has also proved infuriating, and even though I do very highly recommend The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife I do leave a caveat that many of the human "mistakes" and misunderstandings regarding animals will make those of you who love animals and want to protect and help animals at best a trifle upset, although I still do absolutely and highly commend Lucy Cooke for both detailing these experiments of what I can only call terrorism towards animals and that she is also always both ready and willing to vociferously condemn and disparage even those scientists and natural philosophers whom many of us seem to somehow consider heroic and proverbial sacred cows and thus above and beyond criticism, such as Carl Linnaeus, Charles Darwin, Georges Cuvier, Aristotle just to name a few).

Highly recommended, and yes, a fun, engaging, informative (and also never tedious, never dragging or monotonous reading experience) The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife has been (with the detailed footnotes/endnotes and bibliography at the back and that the latter is in fact divided into specific sections corresponding to Lucy Cooke's presented chapters being both appreciated and very much an added bonus). But truth be told, I did kind of already expect there to be an included bibliography in The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife (just because of the subject matter at hand and that Lucy Cooke is obviously not just presenting her personal observations but also her own secondary research), but from my own academic point of departure, especially this here particular bibliography really does totally shine, and mostly because of the way it is organised, as I have always found that bibliographies based on a book's chapters or sections considerably easier and much more user-friendly to consult for especially supplemental research purposes than those bibliographies that just appear as one large and all encompassing list.

End of the Megafauna: The Fate of the World's Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals (non fiction, not written for specifically younger readers but suitable for ages twelve onwards) four stars, nicely balanced but the Kindle edition has really blurry accompanying artwork

Many of us (even if we are not professional zoologists) are still interested in the history of life on earth, and yes, in particular why there was such a massive and fast rate of megafaunal extinctions on a global scale in the late Pleistocene (and to a certain extent also spilling over into the early Holocene). And indeed, I am definitely part of this crowd, as what caused the extinctions of mammoths, mastodons, giant ground sloths, wooly rhinoceroses and other mega-gigantic Pleistocene animal species has always both intrigued me and indeed equally troubled me a trifle (as I for one, in my readings over the years on this very subject, have definitely found the stubbornness of many scientists a bit problematic, because even though I certainly do believe that human involvement in the megafaunal extinctions of the late Pleistocene is likely not to be disregarded and even most probably a major contributing factor, I still have always questioned why so often humans and especially human hunting practices were being seen and are being seen as the ONE AND ONLY REASON for the extinctions of gigantic animals at the end of the Pleistocene and that there were/are supposedly no other reasons and scenarios involved and even to be remotely considered).

And indeed, I thus originally also approached Ross D.E. MacPhee's End of the Magafauna: The Fate of the World's Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals with quite a bit of reading trepidation, as I certainly did not want to peruse yet another tome blaming humans for absolutely everything and that there supposedly were no other causes involved, that no other scenarios and factors might have also contributed to the Pleistocene extinctions of many (if not most) gigantic animal species. But fortunately, I absolutely need not have worried. For Ross D.E. MacPhee does a truly wonderful and above all remarkably balanced job showing and analysing (and in a manner that is both readable, understandable and accessible even for non scientists and biologists) the many reasons that have been proposed over the years as to why the megafauna might have become extinct (focussing of course and naturally very heavily on humans, on especially Paul Martin's "overkill" hypothesis, but also clearly pointing out that while most scientists of today do strongly believe that human presence and the fact that we colonised so many erstwhile human-free landmasses during the late Pleistocene probably and even likely had much negative influence on the endemic animal species present there, but no, that Paul Martin's theory that humans basically hunted the megafaunal animals to death and to extinction is no longer seen as the only and perhaps even the most likely factor, that there are probably multiple reasons why the gigantic animal species of the Pleistocene generally became extinct, that the extinctions likely were caused by a combination of explosive and to and for the animals affected devastating scenarios and that well, we might never actually be able to know the exact and total causes of why these massive extinctions occurred, in such a short period of geologic time, and globally at that).

Four stars for End of the Magafauna: The Fate of the World's Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals, for albeit that Ross D.E. MacPhee’s presented narrative and Paul Schouten's accompanying illustrations are definitely worth five stars in and of themselves, on the Kindle, unfortunately, the artwork in particular is in my humble opinion visually often rather blurry, much too small and sometimes not even all that logically organised with regard to the author's text. And therefore yes, while I do indeed very highly recommend this book, I also strongly suggest getting yourself a traditional dead tree copy of End of the Magafauna: The Fate of the World's Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals and to not bothter with the e-book (and this especially if you are equally interested in both Ross D.E. MacPhee's printed words and Pete Schouten's pictures).

Kakapo: Rescued From The Brink Of Extinction (no fiction, not penned for young readers but suitable for ages twelve and up and pretty similar but more extensive than Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot) four stars, not easy to obtain, but worth looking for in my opinion

Although I was at first rather majorly questioning and wondering whether the oh so very many accompanying photographs that are to be found in Kakapo: Rescued from the Brink of Extinction might also and perhaps prove to be a bit of a distraction and even move readers away from Alison Ballance's presented text, I indeed very quickly changed my mind and yes, completely so, I may add. For in Kakapo: Rescued from the Brink of Extinction the multiple photographs are (in my humble opinion) and most definitely just as important and as essential as what the author, as what Alison Ballance textually shows and demonstrates to us, to her readers (especially since kakapos are so elusive and so very rare, and furthermore, the photographs in Kakapo: Rescued from the Brink of Extinction also tend to demonstrate visually and aesthetically just how much hard work, how much expense and how much total dedication and determination towards saving the kakapo are involved and are required when trying to hand rear and protect vulnerable kakapo chicks, when attempting to guarantee the species' survival on Codfish Island and to also make sure that the kakapo's recovery will actually end up lasting and being a permanent scenario).

A wonderful but also at times sadly and necessarily frustrating reading experience is Kakapo: Rescued from the Brink of Extinction, and in particular when one becomes aware of the many set-backs and false starts that have occurred (and of course also infuriating are the presented reasons why kakapos are so critically endangered in the first place, and I do indeed also rather think that Alison Ballance should in Kakapo: Rescued from the Brink of Extinction definitely be a bit more openly and vehemently critical towards the dangers posed to kakapos and other endemic New Zealand birds by feral domestic cats and yes also by irresponsible cat owners who still often seem bent on allowing their pet cats to freely roam outside even though it has now been proven beyond any doubt whatsoever that domestic cat predation is in fact a huge danger, a huge threat to kakapos and other endemic New Zealand bird species and that well and really, domestic cats that roam outside should be considered a pest in New Zealand and one that needs to be rigorously controlled and managed in a way to limit the threats and dangers caused by domestic cats to endemic wildlife).

However, even with my personal attitude and consideration that I strongly do believe Alison Ballance should be rather more critical with regard to domestic cats (and especially feral domestic cats) and the havoc they seem to generally wreak on New Zealand's native and endemic fauna, I still do indeed very highly and warmly recommend Kakapo: Rescued from the Brink of Extinction, as both Alison Ballance's printed words and the accompanying photographs have indeed and certainly done a generally wonderful and amazing job demonstrating why and how the kakapo is so critically endangered, as well as showcasing in meticulous detail the current efforts to rescue the kakapo from extinction (and of course with the appendixes and especially the detailed bibliography and that it presents not only books but also television documentaries on the kakapo as well as relevant websites being to and for me the absolute icing on the cake so to speak).

Silent Spring (non fiction, and even with me not liking the lack of sources etc., in my opinion EVERYONE from the age of twelve onwards needs to read this book) three stars, still highly recommended even with the lack of sources

Indeed and both content and writing style wise, Rachel Carson’s seminal and oh so important for the environmental movement Silent Spring generally reads both flowingly and with graceful, understated (but also emotionally textually dense) eloquence (but yes and sadly, after more than fifty years since the 1964 publication of Silent Sprung, there not only still remains very much to be done with regard to stopping or at least severely limiting overusing pesticides but it also does seem that in recent years, it certainly is beginning to feel as though we are in fact moving not really forwards but actually rather backwards, that we are often drowning out Rachel Carson’s important messages and admonishments and catering to special interest groups like farming and industrial lobbies and indeed not in any manner further reducing but sadly increasing pesticide and herbicide production and usage once again).

However, as much as I do wholeheartedly applaud Rachel Carson for having penned Silent Spring and that yes indeed, this book really was a major wake-up call with regard to especially how DDT was thinning and making fragile bird eggs and thus severely and lastingly reducing the ability for birds to successfully procreate and reproduce, as an academic, I do have to (even if contritely and with a bit of guilt) point out that Rachel Carson NOT using any foot or endnotes in her text, in the narrative of Silent Spring and just listing her diverse sources by chapter and as far as I can tell a bit haphazardly at that, this certainly does not make for easy supplemental research. And yes, even figuring out from which of the listed sources Rachel Carson has gleaned her information and where in her text, where in Silent Spring this is all located is in my opinion and very much frustratingly rendered considerably more difficult without foot or endnotes (not to mention that Silent Spring also does not contain an all encompassing and separate bibliography either, just these rather difficult to weed through source lists at the end of each chapter, a to and for me academic shortcoming that while it does not in any manner diminish Silent Spring’s and Rachel Carson’s message, it has definitely frustrated me on an academic and university/college research level).

Rumors of Existence: Newly Discovered, Supposedly Extinct & Unconfirmed (non fiction, not specifically penned for younger readers, but suitable for readers from about the age if eleven or so onwards) four stars, fun and educational, nice bibliography (but from 1995)

Informative, engaging, extensively researched and referenced (with both a detailed bibliography and also a very much appreciated subject index), Matthew A. Bille's Rumours of Existence is basically and for all intents and purposes a realistically conceptualised, scientifically sound exposé detailing mostly newly, read relatively recently discovered animal species (from minute living fossils to the giants of the sea, to whales and other cetaceans). And please do note that Rumours of Existence is (and indeed thankfully) NOT (as some reviews on Amazon seem to claim) promoting and featuring elements of so-called cryptozoology. For while there does exist a chapter in Rumours of Existence on what the author labels as mystery animals, even this section, while indeed somewhat more speculative (as that is the nature of the beast) is nonetheless bound to realism, to science and research, and not myth and folklore (the possibility of giant eels, pigmy elephants and curious, strange felines are seriously considered, but Thunderbirds, the Loch Ness Monster, Sasquatch and other such pseudo-mythical creatures do fortunately not make an appearance).

Now the only small caveat I can possibly give is that due to the fact that Rumours of Existence was published in 1995, some of the information presented and featured is likely (and even more than likely) a bit out of date (and I do know for a fact that with regard to the featured animals presumed extinct, there have been a number of both positive and negative changes since 1995, with some animals now absolutely and sadly considered to definitely be forever gone, while others are actually making a bit of a comeback). Highly recommended and for me, personally, Matthew A. Bille's Rumors of Existence is definitely the best and most approachable book on newly discovered animal species I have read to date (a science-oriented tome that strikes a delicate and successful balance between imparting factual knowledge/research and being speculative, and also achieving this all in a manner that even interested non experts, that not just zoologists, biologists, that not only scientists with advanced university degrees can easily and with retained interest understand and appreciate).

Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink (non fiction, and suitable for readers from about the age of twelve or thirteen onwards) three stars, a bit too optimistic and not angry enough

Truth be told, although I have indeed found much of Jane Goodall’s (with Thane Maynard and Gail Hudson) Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species are Being Rescued from the Brink more than a trifle repetitive at times, I also and equally do well realise that the main reason for this is of course and very much sadly that the chief causes for human-caused and human-influenced animal species endangerment and extinction are generally pretty much similar if not even often totally the same no matter where on earth this tends to occur (habitat loss, over-development, irresponsible hunting, invasive species, agricultural pesticide use and so on and so on), and that therefore, the very repetitiveness of Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species are Being Rescued from the Brink is in fact and actually a huge and as such also totally necessary and required indictment of us, of humanity.

And while the general tone of both Jane Goodall’s narrative and Thane Maynard’s textual interludes are rather hopeful (and that yes, I have definitely both enjoyed and been much cheered by the many, the numerous animal conservation success stories presented) there is (and in fact fortunately, I might add) also a distinct sub-current of ever necessary vigilance, of even some doubt and negativity shown regarding the future of our planet and its ecosystems. For no indeed, we have certainly not at all succeeded totally and in every way saving all or even most endangered animal species on earth from extinction (as there are still currently numerous and seemingly also often more and more threats, that we must therefore keep fighting for and on behalf of threatened animal species, which is also why I do so much appreciate the list of environmental dos and don’ts and what we as readers can do to help which Jane Goodall provides at the back of Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species are Being Rescued from the Brink).

Four stars for Jane Goodall’s and Thane Maynard’s general texts, for the content, the emotional feel and scope of their printed words, but lowered to a high three star average ranking, as for one, I really do find it a trifle annoying that especially with regard to unsupportive government agencies and agrochemical companies insisting that their pesticides are supposedly both necessary and not all that much of a danger to and for the environment, the authors have not been more directly condemning and critical and for two, I also am rather frustrated and disappointed that Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species are Being Rescued from the Brink does not include a bibliography with suggestions for further reading and study (and also, perhaps a list of some of the main animal species that have gone extinct in the past thousand years or so due to our, due to human presence and behaviour might also be a good idea and a sobering fact, as indeed there are many).

The Lost Ark: New & Rediscovered Animals of the Twentieth Century (non fiction, not specifically for younger readers, but suitable for ages twelve and upwards) four stars, nicely balanced but with its publication date a bit dated

Interesting and exceedingly well researched (although thankfully written in a narrative style that while not simplistic is also both readable and understandable to and for non experts, to and for readers with just a casual and personal interest in biology, or more to the point zoology), Karl Shuker's The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the Twentieth Century (with a foreword by Gerald Durrell) presents an expansive account of new and rediscovered animal species of the 20th century (of course, now already much out of date, as new animal species keep being discovered or rediscovered). Not to be confused with those cryptozoology tomes that are primarily wildly imaginative and suppositional (and thus deal mostly with monsters and legendary creatures such as the Sasquatch and the Loch Ness Monster) the diverse sections of The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the Twentieth Centruy do, in fact, mostly contain legitimate and scientifically proven 20th century animal discoveries (from mammals to invertebrates, the latter being much appreciated, as invertebrates and new discoveries of invertebrate species are often and sadly unfortunately rather ignored in and by these types of books).

And while the last chapter (the sixth chapter) of The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the Twentieth Centruy is indeed a trifle more speculative and to my minor annoyance also does feature somewhat more problematic conjectures, such as the consideration that there perhaps are holdout dinosaur-like species in certain areas of the world, like Scotland's Loch Ness and in the African jungles, chapters one to five are all completely realistic in set-up and feature only legitimate and scientifically proven animal discoveries (and even the sixth chapter is not really all that wildly speculative, it simply points out some of the more controversial creatures of legend and lore and offers possible ideas and explanations as to what they might represent). The appendix (featuring a detailed explanation of the scientific classification of animals) and the extensive bibliography are an added and much appreciated bonus (and in my opinion cement this book, cement Karl Shuker's The Lost Ark: New and Recently Discovered Animals of the Twentieth Century as a shining example of an scientifically interesting and academically sound addition to the canon of books on cryptozoology and rediscovered, newly discovered animal species). Highly recommended and a lot of fun!

Last Chance to See: In the Footsteps of Douglas Adams (non fiction, suitable for ages twelve and up, and I would recommend it more than Douglas Adams' original Last Chance to See) three stars, engaging, entertaining, sobering, wanted more science/zoology facts and also am annoyed that the author seems to consider controlled trophy hunting acceptable and useful

More than twenty years after author (and photographer) Mark Carwardine (who is by training and career a zoologist) and the late Douglas Adams went on an extended and gruelling global expedition to view and report on a list of critically endangered animal species, the same Mark Carwardine (this time accompanied by celebrated comedian Stephen Fry) has retraced and tried to basically reenact that first journey (mostly to see whether any progress has been made with regard to animal conservation and in particular with regard to the animals featured in the first book, in Douglas Adam's original Last Chance to See, which I have not yet read but am planning to in the near future).

And the result of this second project (which was actually also and perhaps even first and foremost a BBC miniseries starring Stephen Fry and Mark Carwardine) has been the latter's 2009 Last Chance to See: In the Footsteps of Douglas Adams (a mostly rather majorly depressing and frustrating personal reading experience for me, as while indeed immensely interesting and enlightening, the truth of the matter remains that there have only been very very few conservation successes since Douglas Adams penned his original book in 1990, with two of the animals featured in Last Chance to See, the Northern White Rhino and the Yangtze River Dolphin now most probably if not definitely extinct and many of the other animal species still only barely hanging on, still critically threatened due to poaching, traditional medicine usage, superstition, hunting for sport and pleasure, habitat loss, invasive species and so on and so on). But nevertheless, and even though Last Chance to See: In the Footsteps of Douglas Adams is for all intents and purposes rather majorly sobering and much saddening, I would absolutely and most highly recommend it (as Last Chance to See: In the Footsteps of Douglas Adams is an important document, a necessary accusation and often condemnation of our world, of modern humans, of how we still have not learned and continue to exploit nature, both its fauna and its flora, callously and thoughtlessly for comfort, joy and even entertainment, with the only minor but still a bit annoying caveat and objection being that I for one would have liked a bit more actual science and zoological information and less of a chatty travelogue presented, as well as a list of academic, actual science based books for further study and research, in other words, a bibliography).

And finally, you are probably wondering why I am still ranking this book as a favourite even though my star rating is only three stars. Well for one, and as already alluded to above, Last Chance to See: In the Footsteps of Douglas Adams presents so important and essential a topic for me that even though I do not agree with all of Mark Carwardine's assertions (such as his albeit only grudging support of limited trophy hunting in Africa) and while I sometimes do find the tone of narration just a trifle too unserious and not scientific enough for the topic and themes at hand, a place on my favourites shelf is most definitely still warranted. And for two, I absolutely and loudly must applaud Mark Carwardine for speaking out so vehemently against poaching and how especially traditional Chinese medicine and certain aspects of Chinese culture (such as the consumption of shark fin soup) have indeed emboldened and enabled poachers and driven many animal species to the absolute brink (I mean, who cares about so-called political correctness when it comes to the very real and inconvenient truth that many amimal species are in dire straits and that these dire straits are almost entirely human caused and for what, for superstitious and unscientific beliefs in "magical" types of animal-based medicines and cures).

The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees (non fiction, not strictly for younger readers, but enjoyable for anyone aged eleven or so onwards who loves trees) four stars, versatile and interesting, but no sources, no bibliography

DK Publishing's 2022 The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees is with regard to what is textually being featured pretty darn perfect as a general but still sufficiently extensive introduction, covering the specific scientific facts regarding trees (from the evolution of trees to how trees work, as well as providing relevant details on a large number of both non flowering and flowering trees, separated respectively into two main sections).

But alongside of the textual presentation of trees from a botantical perspective, The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees also demonstrates how we humans have made and continue to make use of trees (of wood), that clearcutting and indiscriminate logging is threatening many trees and many ecosystems and that global warming is having a very negative effect on in particular the northern, the boreal forests of the world. Combined with wonderful accompanying illustrations and often really beautiful, spectacular photographs, if I were to only consider what the contributors to The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees have written content and thematics wise, yes indeed, my rating would certainly be solidly five stars (and especially so since there is also neither textual awkwardness nor botany based scientific jargon to be found within the pages of The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees, just a solidly informative but still sufficiently simple account of what trees are and what they signify, and yes, that while The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees, has not been specifically penned with younger readers in mind, the delightful general simplicity of the presented text, of the printed words makes The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees in my opinion suitable for anyone above the age of around eleven or twelve, provided of course that they are in fact interested in reading and learning about trees).

But well and honestly, for me to actually consider a five star rating for a one hundred percent non fiction tome on trees (and actually, on basically anything), there absolutely would need to be an included bibliography, there would have to be an acknowledgment of utilised secondary (and also primary) sources. And since that is unfortunately not the case with The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees, I am therefore only able to grant a four star rating for The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees and to point out that the lack of biographical information does definitely lower the educational value of this book for me, not a lot mind you, but most definitely a trifle (with me defintely wondering and questioning why there is no bibliography for The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees and why this in fact seems to be the case with all of the DK Publishing books I have read to date).

And by the way, The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees is as a so-called coffee table book also rather large, heavy, unwieldy and is thus best read if it is actually lying completely flat on top of a coffee table or some other large surface (not really a major issue for me, but I do want to point out The Tree Book: The Stories, Science, and History of Trees is definitely more than a bit over-sized). And I would also NOT recommend trying any of these DK publications as e-books, since the ones I have tried on my Kindle, they have all had frustrating issues with font sizes and annoying blurriness.

The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World (non fiction, not a children's book, but I consider it suitable for readers above the age of fourteen or so, with the caveat that cat lovers might have some issues) three stars, no conclusions, wanted some actual thoughts regarding dealing with and controlling feral cats) three stars

I finally have managed to finish reading The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World (which I received as a birthday present exactly a month ago), and there is certainly much that is fascinating and educational regarding the author's, regarding Abigail Tucker's presented text.

For one, I do indeed very much appreciate that Tucker has obviously done her research and is giving with The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World to her readers (and this basically means to anyone from about the age of twelve or so onwards who is interested in the topics featured in The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World) solidly factual information about house cats (not only about the evolution of felines in general but also pointing out how house cats have basically domesticated themselves, thus controlling us much more than we actually and in fact do them, and that unfortunately, house cats are also one of the most worst and most destructive invasive species on earth, and all of this being shown with delightfully detailed endnotes citing primary and secondary sources). And for two, I also very much consider it a huge textual positive that even though Abigail Tucker clearly considers herself to be a cat and not so much a dog person, she is also with The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World not ever blind and deaf regarding the environmental destruction outdoor and in particular feral house cats can and do cause and in particular in and for areas where until the arrival of house cats there had been no endemic feline predators present.

Furthermore, I do equally and hugely applaud Abigail Walker for demonstrating with The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World in her painfully infuriating chapter about the so-called Cat Lobby that far too many efforts to control feral cats and to mitigate their environmental destruction potential have been willfully and also often really nastily thwarted and mercilessly sabotaged by ignorant morons freaking out regarding any measures to control and manage feral cats, and that for these cats above everything radicals and extremists, even trying to spay and neuter both indoor and outdoor house cats is somehow seen completely unacceptable and something downright evil. And just like the author, I also and personally really do consider this kind of an attitude absolutely reprehensible, since with it also often comes a callous "who cares" type of approach by Cat Lobby members towards feral cats breeding exponentially and unchecked and that this is proving to be disastrous for in particular endangered bird species in areas where house cats have been introduced by us, by humans and function as invasive species with no or with not enough naturally occurring predation (and I sure am glad that in The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World, Abigail Tucker's view of and consideration for the Cat Lobby is both critical and also necessarily condemning).

However and finally, even with there being very much that is textually hugely positive and also important regarding The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World, there are two points of contention for me and enough so lower my original five star rating to now only three stars. For while Abigail Tucker does in The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World feature and point out many of the problems the world faces with regard to in particular house cats that are outside roaming, that are feral, she does kind of only list these but is not really providing any real and necessary suggestions of possible solutions, with The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World for and to me just kind of stopping and feeling rather too much and annoyingly like unfinished business (and equally so, that yes, I also wish that aside of the source notes, Abigail Tucker would also be including in The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World a separate bibliographical list, as this would certainly in my humble opinion be much more supplemental research friendly than Tucker simply having endnotes).

The Great Ghost Rescue (fiction, and has some nice bits about ecology) three stars, like the ecological messages, but found ALL of the villains to one sidedly evil

Well, for the most part, I have found Eva Ibbotson's 1975 children's novel The Great Ghost Rescue fun and engaging (full of both laugh out loud and sly humour as well as being imbued with just enough mild icky creepiness, but also presenting much wisdom and many important but never in my opinion too overly didactic messages regarding ecology and especially promoting an appreciation of and for history and that older buildings, castles and such should not automatically be considered as passé, as needing to be modernised or worse, actually needing to be torn down to make room for newer and supposedly therefore better and superior constructions and buildings).

And yes, for a middle grade novel, The Great Ghost Rescue is actually surprisingly nuanced and with for the most part good if not delightful character development. For I do love how young Rick not only immediately takes charge and tries to start working on a plan to recuse the United Kingdom's displaced ghosts and to find them a government ordained official sanctuary (as so many of them are being turned out of their ancestral castles and homes due to modernity, so-called evolution and development) but that Rick is also willing and able to challenge his own beliefs and to make changes as necessary (such as for example, realising that his own consumption of meat is not really all that different from vampire bats needing to consume blood in order to stay alive), not to mention that at the end of The Great Ghost Rescue when all danger is past, when the exorcists have been trounced and order has been restored at Insleyfarne, Rick also makes sure that ghost friend Humphrey receives the accolades and praise he so richly deserves (for having gone to fetch Rick back to Insleyfarne at the proverbial nick of time) by stating that from now on Humphrey should be known as Humphrey the Heroic (that if Rick is to have the moniker of Rick the Rescuer, then Humphrey for his own courage at leaving by himself and indeed very ill and weak due to the exorcisms to search for Rick and tell him of Lord Bullhaven's treachery must now be seen and addressed as Humphrey the Heroic).

Furthermore and indeed, the only (and while minor still somewhat annoying) reason why I am rating The Great Ghost Rescue with a high three stars and not yet with four stars is that personally and from a textual and narrational point of departure, I do find the entire scenario that Insleyfarne is meant to be a trap and Lord Bullhaven not only a villain but a total and utter cardboard-like flat arch-evil entity par excellence a bit facile, a bit too one-sidedly out of the blue and unexpected. For while Lord Bullhvaven's treachery and his nefarious ploy to have all of the ghosts of Great Britain exorcised out of existence does I guess set the necessary stage in The Great Ghost Rescue for a final showdown and battle, and of course also for Humphrey to show his personal mettle and heroism, I definitely would much prefer it if the Insleyfarne trap and Lord Bullhaven's villainy and treachery were not so totally unexpected, in other words, that there should definitely be a few more obvious indications of potential evil and villainy provided by Eva Ibbotson right when we first set eyes on and meet up with Lord Bullhaven in the Prime Minster's office.

The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly (fiction) three stars, nice ecological messages, but story a bit too weirdly fantastical with a cat teaching a young seagull to fly

Now I originally read Luis Sepúlveda's 1996 The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly (titled Historia de una gaviota y el gato que le enseñó a volar in its original Spanish, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden, with Chris Sheban providing the accompanying illustrations) in August 2010 for a Children's Literature Group read. And yes indeed, considering that the summer of 2010 was also the time of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill tragedy and fiasco, perusing The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly then was both a timely and also a very important admonishment to not only children but really to everyone both young and old that we do need to absolutely guard against oil spills and oil slicks in the ocean and other bodies of water and the environmental havoc and terror these tend to wreak and cause, and especially for sea and shorebirds (with for example, at the beginning of The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly, Chris Sheban's absolutely terrifying pictorial image of Kenach the seagull being totally and utterly overwhelmed and inundated in the North Sea by a massive flood of black and oily ooze being both aesthetically frightening and yes, even if perhaps a bit overly empathetic and moralistic in scope, also in all ways necessary and meaningful).

However, in retrospect, I personally really do also wish that The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly were a bit more realistic and less fantastical with regard to in particular cats and birds as animal species. For while the account of Zorba the Hamburg feline promising a dying (and oil drenched) Kenach that he would both take care of her egg and then also teach her young offspring to fly (once the time is right for this) has been sweet, encouraging and engaging enough in and of itself, frankly, considering that in reality, that in the real world, cats usually hunt and eat birds, that they see birds as potential prey, I really do have to wonder a trifle whether post Lucky the seagull having been taken care of, succoured and taught how to fly by Zorba, if she would still posses the natural instincts to view and approach cats in general as dangerous, as probable enemies and not as potential allies and companions. In other words, while I have found Zorba and Lucky's relationship tender and encouraging, I guess I also was kind of looking for Zorba teaching his charge, making Lucky aware of the fact and truth that while he and many of the Hamburg port cats certainly have been friends and companions to her, that once she is on her own flying and living as a typical seagull, cats should not automatically be considered friendly just because he and the port cats of Hamburg have been friendly, that cats usually do hunt, kill and eat birds and that Lucky should therefore generally be frightened or at the very least wary of cats as a species (something that I do not think every really seems to occur to any major extent in The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly, and something that I for one definitely have found rather problematic at best, a totally missed opportunity so to speak, and certainly too fantastical and fairy tale like for me).

And therefore, while in August of 2010, I had originally considered four star ranking for The Story of a Seagull and the Cat Who Taught Her to Fly, in 2019, I am indeed now only willing and able to consider but a rather low three star ranking at best (for a tale with important environmental, ecological messages, even if perhaps a bit overtly didactic at times, and a cute and sweet depiction of an unusual avian/feline friendship that while readable and yes in many ways just lovely, also and nevertheless is truly just a wee trifle too unrealistic, too unbelievable and too one-sidedly rose-coloured glasses positive for my personal tastes).

Last of the Curlews (fiction) four stars, very depressing but realistic

Depressing, heart-breaking, and an infuriating (but oh so very much important, necessary and for 1963 impressively modern) massive indictment of us, of humans, and especially and in particular of those of us who hunt not for sustenance (for food) and survival but who for sport, for willful destruction and whatever else indiscriminately and callously slaughter (or have slaughtered in the past) thousands upon thousands of in this case Eskimo Curlews (but the very same same could and should be said with regard to the Great Auk, the Labrador Duck, the Passenger Pigeon, the Carolina Parakeet and so on and so on) until the species is either completely extinct or in such dire straits that long-term survival is likely impossible, I cannot really say that I have all that much personally enjoyed reading Fred Bodswoth's Last of the Curlews but that I am indeed very much glad to have read the book (even if it did continuously and repeatedly bring both tears of passionate sadness and intense raging anger to my eyes).

For while the Eskimo Curlew might yet not be totally extinct, even with sporadic supposed sightings over the past decades, it is still considered by most scientists and ornithologists so critically endangered that it might as well be extinct (and indeed, my own supplemental research online post my perusal of Last of the Curlews does in fact and very sadly show rather stridently that even recent reputed sightings of Eskimo Curlews need to be taken with a rather massive grain of salt, as for one, the birds might actually have been Whimbrels, which are very closely related to Eskimo Curlews, and for two, there most probably does not exist a sufficient number of the latter for the species to be viable, in other words, for the Eskimo Curlew to successfully mate and reproduce enough living and thriving offspring).

Highly recommended (but with the necessary caveat that Last of the Curlews is most definitely not in any manner and way pleasurable and comforting and that yes indeed, if kids are to be reading Last of the Curlews, parents and caregivers really should, really must make sure that the children reading or perhaps having Last of the Curlews read to them will actually be able to adequately cope and handle the depressing reality of the story, namely that the solitary male Eskimo Curlew featured by Fred Bodsworth as the main protagonist in Last of the Curlews indeed seemingly does end up as very probably being amongst the last of his species and that the mate he had found was callously shot and killed by an ignorant farmer and in my opinion for no reason whatsoever, as the farmer just seems to shoot at the birds out of what I for one really can only consider pure nasty random spite and hatred of and for the wild, of and for any bird that is not of the domesticated type).

The Compleat Cockroach: A Comprehensive Guide to the Most Despised ( and Least Understood) Creature on Earth (non fiction, not specifically for children, but a great read for anyone above the age of twelve who is interested in insects) four stars and quite educational and also entertaining

Although it is clearly obvious that David George Gordon has penned and conceptualised his 1996 The Compleat Cockroach: A Comprehensive Guide to the Most Despised (And Least Understood) Creature on Earth with primarily an adult audience in mind, I definitely and strongly do consider The Compleat Cockroach: A Comprehensive Guide to the Most Despised (And Least Understood) Creature on Earth as being suitable reading material for anyone (with an interest in insects and of course in particular cockroaches) from about the age of elven of twelve onwards.

And no, an intrested reader would most certainly not require advanced post-secondary knowledge regarding biology, entomology etc. in order to both read and easily understand as well as enjoy The Compleat Cockroach: A Comprehensive Guide to the Most Despised (And Least Understood) Creature on Earth. For indeed, David George Gordon, although he is textually presenting a major plethora of cockroach and insect specific information and details (both scientific and cultural and quite informatively, densely presented), Gordon appreciatively and delightfully is also in The Compleat Cockroach: A Comprehensive Guide to the Most Despised (And Least Understood) Creature on Earth always refraining from using potentially confusing and distracting scientific jargon, which manages to keep the narrational flow light, breezy, occasionally humorous, and above all educational and enlightening without The Compleat Cockroach: A Comprehensive Guide to the Most Despised (And Least Understood) Creature on Earth ever becoming textually overwhelming, and thus making this book a truly wonderful and spectacular introduction to everything cockroach oriented (ostentatiously for adults, but yes, and as already mentioned, for me and in my opinion, The Compleat Cockroach: A Comprehensive Guide to the Most Despised (And Least Understood) Creature on Earth makes for interesting reading for not only adults but also for teenagers, for basically and really anyone above the age of twelve).

Eat-a-bug Cookbook: 33 ways to cook grasshoppers, ants, water bugs, spiders, centipedes, and their kin (non fiction, kind of creepy, but great for anyone above the age of twelve) four stars, neat but weird cookbook idea, with very educational information

Well and most certainly considering that insects are very much eaten in almost every corner of the world and often even as a major part of many people's diets (except of course seemingly in Europe, the United States and Canada), I really do have major issues understanding why the only longer review on Goodreads labels David George Gordon's The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook as being and I quote utter crap. Because in my humble opinion, the reviewer does not really ever give any legitimate and academically sound reasons for such an assessment, except that he obviously considers it a bit of a stretch for David George Gordon to assume that potential insect cookers and consumers will be going out foraging outside (and in their domiciles) for bugs to cook, bake etc. but then rather weirdly fails to point out that The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook actually presents a pretty decent list of addresses where one can purchase insects and/or insect parts for consumption and for cookery.

And indeed, not only are the featured factual details on entomophagy (on eating insects) which David George Gordon presents in the introduction to The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook informative, educational, well researched and naturally humorous without the author having to resort to gross-out dramatics (and yes, I also very much do appreciate that there is an included bibliography with suggestions for further reading, as well as the already mentioned above addresses listing places where one can purchase insects for cooking purposes for The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook, and not to mention that I as someone with graduate degrees in German literature am also totally left smiling at the samosa with cockroaches recipe being called by David George Gordon Gregor Samsa's Samosa with its obvious and delightful allusion to Franz Kafka's novella Die Verwandlung), the featured recipes in The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook all seem to be pretty easy to prepare and with in fact the most unusual ingredients often only being the insects, the diverse and different bugs (and with my only mild annoyance being the absence of colour with regard to the presented visuals and that The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook also has not photographs of the end products, of the prepared insect infused foods).

But would I actually consider preparing any of the presented insect recipes of The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook? And yes, being an adventuresome eater, I probably would. However, my partner is not only a very picky eater, he is also really easily grossed and creeped out by insects, so no, I will therefore not be making any of the recipes featured in The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook, as I really do not think it would be in any way even remotely acceptable for me to either make or eat anything containing insects as a main ingredient if this would or might disgust and perhaps even sicken my significant other.

Oh and by the way, there also seems to be a revised edition of the The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook (but since I have not read it, I of course do not know what if anything David George Gordon has changed).

Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army and Other Diabolical Insects (non fiction, suitable for readers above the age of twelve, but I am only posting it because Amy Stewart seems popular, since I for one only rated this with one star) one star, do not like the negativity and hatred towards insects (towards bugs) in general

Although Amy Stewart is of course quite correct pointing out that there are many insects which have been, can be and often still are massively destructive, her attitude in Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon’s Army and Other Diabolical Insects is in my opinion simply and at best massive ignorance personified. For she really does seem to think that all insect pests are this way simply because they are personality wise deliberately nasty and inherently evil, whereas any entomologist worth his or her salt could and hopefully would easily tell her that insects like all animals are struggling to successfully survive, to reproduce, to pass on their genes to further generations, and yes, that often might mean being parasitical, being destructive (or rather what we would consider destructive).

And no, Ms. Stewart, just because some insects and perhaps even a great many of them do tend to negatively affect humans and our projects, our lives, that does NOT automatically make insects as a whole evil and anthropomorphically nasty, it just makes them or rather some of them potentially annoying and sometimes also a legitimate threat. But furthermore, considering how deliberately and willfully destructive humans in general are, how we have with full knowledge and yes even with overt acceptance trashed the earth and many of its ecosystems, and often still continue to blithely and carelessly do so (and how indeed, even many so-called insect pests have been introduced by US, by humans, into erstwhile pristine natural areas and ecosystems), honestly, how dare you call insects diabolical when you, Ms. Stewart really should at the very least also be condemning of humans and at least accept our own guilt here, that in many ways, destructive insects have thrived and proliferated due to our actions and behaviours.

One star, and while I guess interestingly enough penned to an extent, I for one absolutely will not be recommending Wicked Bugs: The Louse that Conquered Napoleon’s Army and Other Diabolical Bugs (and really, Amy Stewart must be totally lacking in basic common sense if she considers the many insects that consume carrion and break down dead tissue as and I quote her horrible creatures, because guess what, these insects, and just like any carrion consuming animals, while how they make their living, how they eat and reproduce, might well look disgusting and perhaps even smell disgusting, they do in fact provide to the earth, including to us humans, an important and essential service, namely cleaning up rotting flesh, vegetation etc. and thereby preventing the spread of disease).

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities (non fiction, suitable for readers above the age of twelve, but I totally hated this book) one star, find the author's attitude hugely problematic

I actually stopped reading Amy Stewart's Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities in utter frustration in September 2013 and really also in massive personal disgust, when I realised with a vehement sense of "oh no" that while the botanical information and details on the presented toxic, dangerous and destructive plant species are most definitely and indeed interestingly and even fascinatingly enough recounted, it simply bothered and continues to annoy me to no end that the author has made Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities appear almost like some kind of murder-mystery offering, with the included and featured toxic plants and noxious weeds appearing as though they were actually evilly cunning nasty villains or raging unbalanced psychopaths. However and sorry, Ms. Stewart, but plants are neither to be described as atrocities (what a terrible and cringeworthy concept that is in and of itself and the kind of attitude that in my opinion both condones and encourages the use of toxic weedkillers and so on and so on) nor are they personally evil, calculating or deliberately and nastily cruel. Honestly, please do stop with the anthropomorphism; plants are NOT human beings, and your insistence on making the included toxic and dangerous plant species appear as basically human type villains, this has really and truly utterly destroyed Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities for me, it has really and utterly ruined what might well have been a potentially enlightening and engaging reading experience (for just to point out the inherently obvious, even the most deadly, the most toxic plant species are as a general rule NOT poisonous out of inborn malice and/or evil intent, but due to the necessity of defence and protection, the need of trying to avoid being consumed, trying to avoid being destroyed).

And finally, last but most surely and definitely not least, destructive invasive, non endemic plant species are also NOT by their general nature somehow nasty and of active offensive intent (which is how to and for me Amy Stewart seems to have textually described them in Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities). No, most invasive plant species like purple loosestrife and other similarly problematic, rapidly spreading weed-like entities are dangerous and destructive not really in and of themselves but due to the fact that they often have been callously and thoughtlessly introduced into fragile ecosystems by US, by humans (introduced into ecosystems where they have no naturally occurring checks and balances and could thus profligate and spread unhindered), a fact and I guess inconvenient truth that the author generally chooses to ignore in her striving to make her featured "wicked" plant species appear overdramstised, imbued with and full of natural evil, personal nastiness and wanton and deliberate destructiveness. And thus, I cannot really give more than one star to Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities since I can on a personal level neither accept nor in any way condone this type of for me textual annoyance, this type of callous and silly anthropomorphism (toxic plants being described as deliberately cruel, invasive non endemic plant species being labeled as deliberately destructive on a personal level, that goes simply and utterly too far for me, the interest engendered, the fact that I do find the subject matter of toxic plant species very readable totally and utterly notwithstanding). And I think I will also and yes gladly refrain from even considering the sequel, where Amy Stewart analyses bugs and other insects that might be, that are considered as pests, considering that in the title she is already clearly showing us her bias by calling them, by labelling these insect species as diabolical.

Seymour Simon's Extreme Earth Records (non fiction) three stars, interesting, but dated

So yes and indeed, with regard to the way and manner in which the author in his 2012 Seymour Simon's Extreme Earth Records presents the featured information on specific geologic and weather related records to his intended audience, to older children from about the age of seven onwards (on for example the warmest and coldest temperatures encountered on earth, on the highest and lowest elevations, on precipitation amounts etc.), most definitely Seymour Simon’s text is enlighteningly but also simply enough and still at the same time sufficiently engagingly penned. And furthermore, I also do definitely consider it a huge positive that Seymour Simon presents all of his numbers using both imperial and metric data (for the temperatures, for the distance measurements shown), as this definitely does in my opinion make Seymour Simon's Extreme Earth Record much more global and universal in scope than if only one type of system, if either imperial or metric measurements but not both were being used (and not to mention that the wording of Simon’s featured narrative also and thankfully presents the important to show truth of the matter that especially with regard to the temperature and precipitation earth records, these numbers are records at present and might thus of course have been higher/lower in the past and could once again also be different in the future).

However, even with my general enjoyment and appreciation of Seymour Simon's Extreme Earth Records, there is nevertheless one major content based issue which does tend to rather bother me on an academic and intellectual basis. For while it is indeed true that Mount Everest is the highest mountain on dry land, it is also and equally true that there are a number of mountains considerably higher than Mount Everest under water, that are located in the world’s oceans, and this is indeed and in my opinion a need to know piece of information that really should be prominently represented in Seymour Simon's Extreme Earth Records.

And finally, considering that many of the earth records presented in Seymour Simon's Extreme Earth Records are fluid, are changeable and therefore not set in stone so to speak, I really do wish that there also were some relevant websites featured, included by the author, by Seymour Simon, so that today’s readers (so that children, teachers, parents, whoever) could check whether in 2021, these earth based records are still the same as when Seymour Simon's Extreme Earth Records was published in 2012.

Americans Before Columbus (non fiction) one star, dated but also insulting, denigrating and not scientific

Although I have indeed found the featured topic of Elizabeth Chesley Baity's Americans Before Columbus interesting, and while I certainly did not expect this book to be current and thus in any manner up-to-date with regard to historical, scientific facts and details (seeing that it was published in 1951 and is also seemingly long out of print), the often rather at best questionable science and historical, stereotypical assumptions presented by the author as facts really do tend to make me continuously cringe, and to the point that I am actually now only considering but one star for Americans Before Columbus. And while I do in fact still believe that the author, that Elizabeth Chesley Baity has actually tried to make a good, honourable and yes, also for its time period an at least marginally, partially respectful to Native Americans concerted effort, I personally would still ONLY recommend Americans Before Columbus with major and problematic caveats, with major and painful reservations, and would NOT in any manner suggest that the intended audience, that older children above the age of eleven or twelve simply peruse this book on their own (that Americans Before Columbus really should only ever be read with adult supervision, guidance and much discussion and debate, preferably in a monitored and guided classroom setting).

Now one of my main (and definitely my most infuriating) issues with Americans Before Columbus (and one that I have also seen equally and strongly echoed in other negative and critical reviews of said book) is the simple and rather problematic truth of the matter that Elizabeth Chesley obviously has no real clue about and concept of geology and that geologic time extends for millions upon millions of years. For her assertions about the Andes Mountians probably having risen very rapidly and in a very short time frame, and that this then forced native populations to move, to relocate, make absolutely no scientific sense whatsoever, since while mountains do indeed rise and fall, this takes millions of years and does therefore and logically not happen overnight (or even within a few decades, centuries, even millennia). Yes, the Andes region is and always has been both seismically and volcanically active (due to basic plate tectonics), but the mountain peaks of the Andes have certainly not been rapidly rising higher and higher (at least not within the past 10000 years of so). And for the author to also then claim that the great desserts of the American Southwest were similarly and quickly created by the (and once again) rapid rising of the Rocky Mountains, and that this all was occurring post the peopling of North America and therefore affected Native American tribes approximately 1500 years ago, all this basically and fundamentally wrong and illogical geology just makes me totally shake my head in and with massive consternation, as by the 1950s, it indeed was beginning to be generally accepted by most reasonable and thinking scientists (as well as lay individuals) that geologic features such as mountains and the like do NOT change within years, and even within hundreds and thousands of years, that geologic changes like folding and faulting mountains usually take millions of years to become noticeable (and I would most certainly in NO WAY want children or teenagers to be reading this type of what I personally would label as pseudo-scientific "fake news" on their own and without guidance by teachers or at least educated caregivers, educated and engaged parents prepared to think and approach things critcally).

And furthermore, aside from some rather major generalisations and and an attitude towards Native Americans as a group (and both from North and South America I might add) that definitely veers rather too often towards paternalism and a superiority of White Western Europeans (even if just implied), I actually have found some of the ethno-genetical stereotyping in which Elizabeth Chesley Baity engages during the course of Americans Before Columbus even more troubling and worrisome (and of course rather woefully unscientific as well). For example, Baity seems rather intent on claiming that the main reason why the Spanish were seemingly so often cruel and genocidal with and in their approach to the Native populations of South America and the Caribbean is due to the fact that they are not just European in ethnicity but also have a Moorish (read a Northern African) genealogical connection, almost as though the author wants to somehow demonstrate that it was primarily and mostly the Spanish Conquistadors who were by nature and genetics (and due to Moorish influence, therefore due to non Caucasian African influence) cruel and somehow much much worse than White Anglo Saxon Protestant and Catholic settlers (and in my humble opinion, although the author does not in fact ever categorically claim the latter, she most definitely seems to quite strongly imply this in Americans Before Columbus). And let us be totally honest here, not only is that kind of an assessment both generalising as well as basically and utterly wrong (not the claim that the Spanish were cruel and often actually quite murderously so with regard to their approach to Native American populations, of course, but Baity's standpoint that they were somehow worse and more viciously vile due to their genetics and their partially Northern African ethnicity, and as such also inherently more cruel and inhumane than other especially Western European settlers, this just does not mesh, is just not in any way the truth), and yes, it at least for me personally also and very sadly tends to denigrate and triviliase the cruel cultural ethnic cleansing strategies of the American Indian Removal Acts, Canadian Residential School atrocities etc. (and that is something I for one cannot and will not in any manner of speaking ever accept).

And finally, to now return to issues with problematic and lacking science and scientific knowledge in Americans Before Columbus, Elizabeth Chesley Baity also provides some very strange and not all that scientifically acceptable (sound) information regarding the possible reasons for the extinction of so much of the North American mega fauna (during and immediately after the last glaciation period). For while today, and actually during the past fifty years or so, it is generally assumed that the majority of North American Ice Age mega-sized animals like mammoths, ground sloths etc. became extinct primarily due to overhunting by recently arrived humans (from Eurasia, crossing over the Bering Sea Land Bridge) by Clovis hunters and other such groups, the author would rather have us believe that mammoths et al all and sundry starved to death due to not being able to adapt to the agricultural practices of the recently arrived groups of people (and while many Native American tribes did indeed engage in agriculture, in farming, and that this has also been shown to have occurred rather early on in the Americas, it still did NOT happen until AFTER the end of the last Ice Age, and therefore until after it is assumed most of the mega fauna had already perished, had already gone extinct). And so, with the many and multiple issues I have encountered in Americans Before Columbus I do have to unilaterally and categorically claim that the author's, that Elizabeth Chesley Baity's scientific naiveté and basic lack of even a remotely and averagely reasonable and intelligent attitude towards hard sciences, to disciplines, to subjects like geology, genetics and such, this does make me very uncomfortable, and so academically annoyed in fact that its Newbery Honour designation notwithstanding, one star is really all that Americans Before Columbus deserves as a rating.

Incredible Edible Science (non fiction) three star, interesting, but provides no bibliography and also not ever really and vegetarian/vegan alternatives

Perhaps a tiny bit overly verbose at times, but generally sufficiently engagingly fun and educationally informative, in my humble opinion, Tina L. Seelig generally does a pretty awesome job with her Incredible Edible Science, describing in a young reader, in a child friendly and enlightening manner and format how preparing food, how making a given recipe is actually mostly hardcore science and that much of what happens in the kitchen when we engage in cookery is in fact totally based on chemistry (on for example combining acids with bases, on making emulsions and suspensions and that while water boils at one hundred degrees Celsius, other liquids will of course have higher or lower boiling points).

A combination of basic science facts regarding cooking and embellished with a tasty array of recipes for readers, for children to try on their own or with adult supervision (but unfortunately also with no photographs of the finished products and I equally do tend to find Lynn Brunelle’s accompanying artwork rather cartoon like and not serious enough for the topic at hand, and often just too silly and garish for my aesthetic tastes), for me, Incredible Edible Science is most definitely a solid, fun and educational three stars. And indeed, with the main reasons for me not yet considering four stars for Incredible Edible Science being that for one, in the section about gelatine, Tina L. Seelig really should be mentioning that traditional gelatine is made from bones (and to also provide vegan, vegetarian alternatives such as agar agar), and for two, that while the included glossary at the back of Incredible Edible Science sure is appreciated, in my opinion, an included bibliography with suggestions for further reading and research would certainly much increase the teaching and learning value of this otherwise oh so informative and full with scientific facts filled tome.

Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids (non fiction, not penned specifically for younger readers, but suitable and recommended for ages twelve and above) three stars, interesting but one-sided and a bit negative and patronizing

Although Daniel Loxton's and Donald R. Prothero's Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids is interesting enough in and of itself and yes indeed, generally rather entertainingly penned, really, for most of us who do think logically and scientifically, Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids does not really offer anything all that novel and/or special. For that there are likely no surviving dinosaurs in the Congo and that the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot and the Yeti are at best legends, folklore and in fact more often than not some rather wishful thinking, these are both a given and nothing earth shattering in any way (although personally, I do indeed appreciate how especially Professor Prothero so clearly and succinctly points out in Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids that without actual solid, scientific evidence and proof, and this certainly does NOT mean so-called eye-witness accounts and/or blurry photographs, a potential cryptid is not really worth considering, and that without bona fide and absolute fossil evidence, especially reputed prehistoric holdouts such as surviving dinosaurs, plesiosaurs, pterodactyls and the like are and only can ever be nothing more but the stuff of legend and fantasy.

Four stars and definitely recommended! However, considering that Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids really just seems to focus on the most famous and the most outrageous cryptids, in other words, concentrates on those legendary creatures and monsters that are indeed from square one so to speak too strange and fanciful to even be considered as possible truth and reality, I have now decided to lower my ranking of Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids to a high three stars, since there are also reputed cryptid animal species that are not quite so fantastical, and some that actually could perhaps even exist and just not have been discovered as of yet (but Loxton and Prothero have sadly decided to simply concentrate on the monsters, on those famous and extraordinary "animals" such as the Loch Ness Monster where one knows right from the onset that they are at best figments of our collective, of human imagination).

So now for STEM books I am planning (and hoping) to read, while I have not yet checked out Open Library, here is a list of to read stem themed books from my current Goodreads shelves.



Ashes (fiction, features Albert Einstein, the main protagonist's father is a professor)

Linnea's Windowsill Garden (fiction)

The Number Devil: A Mathematical Adventure (fiction, and called Der Zahlenteufel in the original German)


Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines (fiction)

Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two (fiction based on non fiction)

Maria Sibylla Merian and Daughters: Women of Art and Science (non fiction)

The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl (fiction)

The Science of Breakable Things (fiction)

The Smartest Kid in the Universe (fiction)

Counting by 7s (fiction)

The World Ends in April (fiction)

Race to the Bottom of the Sea (fiction)

Whew! Perhaps you can summarize your posts? Which were the best of those several dozen books you reviewed?

I'm looking forward to sharing titles that I've enjoyed and want to read soon... and even more so to learning from others what they recommend. I'm particularly interested in stories about people as scientists, engineers, mathematicians, etc. Maybe we can learn about real kids who actually Do science!

An excellent series for kids about people who do real science, with emphasis on the science instead of on the biographies, is Scientists in the Field, for example Chasing Cheetahs: The Race to Save Africa's Fastest Cat.

There are a lot of books about Doing science projects and experiments, but most that I've found are pretty simplistic and, frankly, both old and boring. I'd love recommendations for appealing modern books for big kids about scientific activities.

Btw, Flowers for Algernon is not a whole lot about science, and best for older teens as it has significant mature content and complexity. Otherwise it's an excellent book.

One newish book about inspirational female scientists that I enjoyed and recommend is Primates: The Fearless Science of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas.

Green Glass Sea has not much about science in it. It's mostly a family story, set in that era at that place.

Ada Lace, on the Case is the first in a short series for younger kids that I really enjoyed and recommend.

Frankenslime is a funny picture-book that reveals how doing science is hard work, and can lead to unexpected results.... (Bonus: the young hero happens to be Black and female.)

Cheryl wrote: "Whew! Perhaps you can summarize your posts? Which were the best of those several dozen books you reviewed?

I'm looking forward to sharing titles that I've enjoyed and want to read soon... and even..."

I am going to edit the posts to also show my star ratings and if I recommend them or not).

And I will also list those books I recommend the most.