Children's Books discussion

Manybooks wrote: "talented individuals) in children's literature who automatically must be depicted as both nerdy and having obtained their know how in some strange and uncanny manner."

It's kind of the equivalent of the fantasy novel Chosen One or Lost Prince(ss) trope where the character gets to be instantly good at something without hard work. I suppose I see why that's an appealing fantasy, but...

Mir wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "talented individuals) in children's literature who automatically must be depicted as both nerdy and having obtained their know how in some strange and uncanny manner."

It's kind ..."

Maybe, but for me, it also seems to be a rather and sadly good way of keeping students (both boys and even more so girls) from embracing STEM. Popularity and being accepted at school is important and if fictional depictions of science and math smarts tend to go hand in hand with strangeness, geekiness and such, well, that might turn some off and prevent them from wanting to excel and embrace STEM.

The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker is perfect for this. A boy learns from his master, who is doctor & etc., the wisdom of science and the folly of superstition. If your whole family dies of consumption, it is *not* because the first is undead & visiting the others to sicken them, and it will do no good to remove their heart & burn it. Beautifully written; the reader is with Lucas as he loses his mother, clings to the idea that he could have saved her, and finally learns to move on with the man who has become like a father to him.

Thanks for the review, Cheryl, I have added The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker to my to read list (and interestingly enough, when I was reading your musings I at first thought that the novel would be set in the Middle Ages to the 17th century and not in the 19th century).

Not only that, but, though it is rural, it is also Connecticut, so, not barbarously primitive at all.

Cheryl wrote: "Not only that, but, though it is rural, it is also Connecticut, so, not barbarously primitive at all."

No, but I guess we also come to this story with the modern scientific knowledge we have been taught and given at school, from non fiction books, from TV shows etc. I have just started The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker, and while we now do know that one's hair and fingernails still grow after death, that sometimes bodies do not decompose due to a variety of scientific reasons (including very cold and dry temperatures ) and that if a body does not adequately decompose, there might well still be fresh blood on the body or in the body, in the 19th century, most people would not be cognizant of that, and that superstitions about the undead revisiting the living might get popular (and would make grieving relatives feel like they might have an answer for consumption and other epidemics). And yeah, when I as a child was told by a priest that for the saints, their bodies did not decompose, I actually asked him if that meant the saints were vampires (and the priest was definitely not impressed, ha, ha).

"Hair and fingernails may appear longer after death, but not because they are still growing. Instead, a persons fingernails and hair may appear longer because the skin around them has retracted, according to the Dermatology Clinic at UAMS.

After death, dehydration causes the skin and other soft tissues to shrink. This occurs while the hair and nails remain the same length. This change in the body creates the optical illusion of growth people observe."

Cheryl wrote: ""Hair and fingernails may appear longer after death, but not because they are still growing. Instead, a persons fingernails and hair may appear longer because the skin around them has retracted, ac..."

Alright, so that is different from what we were being taught during high school biology. But basically, it is an optical illusion and does not mean someone is undead.

True! :)

I am a bit tired of Chris Ferrie's Baby University board books, but since I am kind of a completist, I am still planning on reading and reviewing all of the Baby University books I own. But I do have to admit that while I have found a number of the Baby University books really good (and with four four star and two five star ratings), there are in my opinion too many three, two and one star Baby University books encountered for me to consider the entire series as successful and to be recommended (and in particular since the books are not all that cheap either).

I'm reading the historical fiction Catherine, Called Birdy right now and this girl would have made a great scientist if she'd been born seven centuries later. The questions she asks show that she's got an inquiring, skeptical, lively intelligence. I think that educators could talk this up to kids as a proto STEM book as well as HF. And proto-feminism, too.

Electromagnetism for Babies

Five stars this one! It is simple enough for young children and both Chris Ferrie's text and his illustrations nicely and basically mirror one another (and I also appreciate the simplicity of the text as an adult for that should make it easy to use Electromagnetism for Babies with the intended board book audience of very young children).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I enjoyed the information regarding African Canadian/American inventor and engineer Elijah McCoy (and that the expression the real McCoy supposedly comes from the fact that after his invention of a lubricating device for train engines many other inventors were making cheap knockoffs and train engineers wanted the real McCoy, wanted Elijah McCoy's oil cup as it was better and also safer), but the lack of a bibliography, that McCoy's 57 inventions are not mentioned in detail and that racial issues are only vaguely alluded to and remain annoyingly on the surface does make All Aboard!: Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine only a three star book for me.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

There is another picture book biography about Elijah McCoy that I found on Open Library, The Real McCoy: The Life of an African-American Inventor, and yes, this book is definitely more detailed and informative and also does not ignore racial issues (still no bibliography, but some of Elijah McCoy's other inventions are listed and that his oil cup is still being used today). Liked the illustrations a bit better as well (will post more once I have reviewed the book, but The Real McCoy: The Life of an African-American Inventor is definitely a bit better and more informative than in my opinion than All Aboard!: Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine).

And All Aboard!: Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine seems to be part of a series Monica Kulling has written about famous inventors, called Great Ideas and published by Tundra Books.

Spic-and-Span!: Lillian Gilbreth's Wonder Kitchen
In the Bag!: Margaret Knight Wraps It Up
Clean Sweep! Frank Zamboni's Ice Machine: Great Idea Series
Zap! Nikola Tesla Takes Charge
To the Rescue! Garrett Morgan Underground: Great Ideas Series
It's a Snap! George Eastman's First Photo
Going Up!: Elisha Otis's Trip to the Top

Only the Nikola Tesla book is available on Open Library, so I am hoping that my local bookseller can get me the other books at a really cheap price, as All Aboard!: Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine only cost five dollars (and I do not really want to spend more than that, as I do think all of the series books will probably have no bibliographies).

Just to say that even though the expression "real McCoy" might have actually been around before Elijah McCoy invented his famous and oh so useful automatic lubrication device, it does seem that train engineers in particular used the expression to demand McCoy's invention and not one of the cheaper and less reliable knockoffs and that this in fact then popularised the expression in American and Canadian vernacular (so that for me, the expression "the real McCoy" does come from Elijah McCoy as his invention was what made said expression more and more popular).

It looks like Spic and Span is on OL, too. I've added both this and Tesla to my lists.

In fact, Tesla and many others (but not Spic n Span) are at my library, so I went ahead and requested a handful.

If you search through Internet Archive instead of OL, you'll find that the Elisha Otis and Margret Knight ones are also available. As well as Vanished!: The Mysterious Disappearance of Amelia Earhart
https://archive.org/search?query=moni...

I read In the Bag!: Margaret Knight Wraps It Up a while ago, and liked it.

Oh, right, I forget that Internet Archive sometimes has ones that aren't listed on OL, even though they're connected. Thanks for the reminder.

Cheryl wrote: "Oh, right, I forget that Internet Archive sometimes has ones that aren't listed on OL, even though they're connected. Thanks for the reminder."

Thanks, I keep forgetting about the Internet Archive.

I found What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story on Open Library after one of my Goodreads friend's review was really positive (and I a always looking for good picture books that teach math skills engagingly and interestingly). But for me, What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story does not really work, with the math skills obviously meant for maybe kindergarten to grade two and the scientific info for grades four or five up (and also not critical enough regarding endangered animals and our responsibility regarding this)

(view spoiler)[While I do appreciate how Suzanne Slade (text) and Joan Waites (illustrations) make their subtraction exercises both textual and also illustrative (visual) for their 2010 STEM themed picture book What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story (so that children can use the depicted text, the numerical equations and also the bright and expressively realistic artwork to figure out the necessary math answers), frankly, I do find how the twelve endangered (North American) animal species are being presented in What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story more than a bit problematic and academically lacking.

For one and first and foremost, while the subtraction math problems shown in What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story in my opinion seem geared towards a kindergarten to probably at the most grade two age group, the accompanying scientific and ecological information on the endangered animal species that Suzanne Slade provides in What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story (both within the text proper and also in the supplemental information) are obviously meant more for older readers, for children from about the age of nine or so onwards (and yes, that my inner nine year old most definitely feels that the math problems for What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story therefore are overly simplistic and annoyingly boring since none of the subtraction problems use numbers above twelve, not to mention that of the featured twelve math exercises of What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story, five of them have the same answer, which really is a bit yawn, yawn, yawn).

And for two, albeit that the ecological and biological information Suzanne Slade provides in What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story seems scientifically and ecologically accurate and is sufficiently educational and interesting (on bald eagles, Utah prairie dogs, Karner blue butterflies, whooping cranes, Mississippi gopher frogs, American crocodiles, Atlantic salmon, bowhead whales, West Indian manatees, Southern sea otters, grey bats and red wolves), sorry, but there is (at least for me and in my humble opinion) not nearly enough direct criticism, not enough naming and active condemnation being textually done by Slade, with many of the words in What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story being pretty cloyingly optimistic, vague, pointing out that these twelve animal species are endangered due to habitat loss because of human activities, hunting and pollution but with Suzanne Slade not ever really delving in any way deeply and being specifically and necessarily nasty towards for example the makers, the producers of DDT (for bald eagles), towards the farmers who routinely and callously shot whooping cranes almost to extinction, towards in particular countries like Japan, Norway and Iceland for still officially engaging in and celebrating commercial whaling and towards those brainless ignoramuses who continue to actively advocate for massive wolf culls and that humans seemingly always have much more value than animals do.

So yes, although What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story does have Suzanne Slade providing a sufficiently decent message supportive of conservation and of protecting vulnerable and threatened with extinction North American animal species, that Slade's criticism seems rather mild and is in my opinion also trying to promote conservation efforts without seemingly ever wanting to rock the proverbial boat so to speak and to bother industrialists, governments, farmers, ranchers etc. all too much, this, the absence of a bibliography and how the scientific textual parts of What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story do not (as already mentioned above) mesh all that well with the mathematics parts and vice versa, for me, this makes What's the Difference? An Endangered Animal Subtraction Story only a two star rating and to also only be recommended with some very serious reservations and caveats. (hide spoiler)]

The Life Cycle of the Tuatara

Excellent and for the intended age group five star introduction to New Zealand's endemic and largest reptile, the tuatara, who is the only surviving species of a reptile order that for the most part became extinct 80 to 100 million years ago.

(view spoiler)[Well and from where I am standing, Betty Brownlie really, truly does a wonderful job providing with her 2011 non fiction zoological picture book The Life Cycle of the Tuatara a solidly researched and educationally penned introduction to the tuatara, textually (and accompanied by many colourful photographs as well as a distribution map) demonstrating and describing everything one (in my humble opinion) needs to know for a basic and general knowledge of the tuatara and of its life cycle (hence the book title being The Life Cycle of the Tuatara), concisely, simply (and with just enough biological and ecological factual information for young readers/listeners from about the age of seven to nine or ten or so) showing and depicting that New Zealand's largest endemic reptile species is for all intents and purposes a living fossil (the only surviving species of an ancient reptile order that for the most part became extinct everywhere on earth 80 to 100 million years ago except of course in New Zealand, physically resembling and also often behaving like lizards but actually not all that closely related to them), the anatomy and physiology of tuataras, what they eat (that they are nocturnal and hunt their prey both with their tongues and with their teeth), how tuataras breed and that they are amongst the slowest growing reptiles (taking over sixty years to fully mature and often living longer than one hundred years).

And yes, appreciatively, Betty Brownlie also points out in The Life Cycle of the Tuatara that although tuataras are in their New Zealand island refuges and sanctuaries currently doing well enough and not actively being threatened since these areas are now under strict government and scientific protection and constantly monitored for the presence of the non endemic to New Zealand predators (in other words invasive pests) that eradicated tuataras from most of the mainland (rats, cats, dogs, stoats, weasels, ferrets etc.) and that these animals, including feral scats and dogs, are generally and with no exemptions rounded up and culled, well, with human, with pollution caused climate change, with the earth's mean temperatures getting warmer and warmer and also very quickly, the tuatara might sadly still become extinct in the near future. For with tuatara eggs, it is atmospheric temperature that determines gender, with warmer temperatures favouring male and with lower temperatures favouring female hatchings (and indeed, Brownlie rightfully points out in The Life Cycle of the Tuatara that a consistent worldwide general temperature of over twenty one degrees celsius would or very likely could mean mostly male tuatara hatchlings and if that temperature mean were to keep being over twenty one degrees celsius there would likely come a time when there would not be enough female tuataras anymore to continue with the species, to continue successfully reproducing and having the tuatara be able to survive and carry on).

Five stars for The Life Cycle of the Tuatara, and although I personally (and as an adult reader) would certainly like to have Betty Brownlie also point out that tuatara like reptiles were actually rather globally widespread before the advent and the success of the dinosaurs, for the intended age group, for the intended audience, The Life Cycle of the Tuatara is more than sufficiently informative and also with its basic bibliography of both books and websites providing a very good starting point for more tuatara themed research. (hide spoiler)]

For teens, there's a lot of science and technology in the 'survival' story On the Edge of Gone.

I have to admit that with regard to evolution as a theory, I have not been all that impressed with and by many of the more simpler picture books, as the ones I have read are either too simplistic or tend to be strangely confusing.

Thus, I would suggest with young readers, waiting until the kids are a bit older and then using books like Steve Jenkins' Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution, Laurence Pringle's Life on Earth: The Story of EvolutionBillions of Years, Amazing Changes: The Story of Evolution and to a point also Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came To Be (although with the caveat that there are no bibliography and sources in Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came To Be).

For Evolution for Babies is absurd and both Grandmother Fish and Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story are much too simple and sometimes rather misleading.

And Peter Sis book on Charles Darwin The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin is printed too small, sigh.

The Life Cycle of the Kiwi (found on Open Library, 2011 edition, does a great job showing what kiwis look like, what their life cycles are like, but yeah, it would be nice if the criticism regarding kiwis being endangered and why were a bit more heavy)

(view spoiler)[Betty Brownlie's 2011 The Life Cycle of the Kiwi (which I located and read on Open Library) is the revised edition of what Brownlie originally penned in 1995 (using exactly the same book title), and with most of the revisions representing factual updates regarding kiwis for a 2011 publication date (such as for example Brownlie pointing out that the tokoeka is no longer considered to be a type of brown kiwi but actually less genetically linked to the other kiwi species than we ourselves are to chimpanzees and gorillas, that albeit kiwis are increasingly and strongly being protected in New Zealand, they are still regularly facing habitat loss and falling prey to invasive, non endemic to New Zealand animal "pests" like dogs, cats, stoats, ferrets and weasels as well as often being accidentally trapped and injured/killed in possum traps or hit by cars, and adding colour photographs of kiwis and a distribution map to augment Betty Brownlie's 1995 artwork for the 2011 edition of The Life Cycle of the Kiwi, since in 1995, Betty Brownlie only used her own kiwi themed illustrations and no photographs).

Simply presented, and with a short but adequate list of book titles and websites for further reading and study (and with more than enough textual detail about what kiwis look like, how and where on New Zealand the five kiwi species live, what they eat, how kiwis breed, that they are endemic and unique to New Zealand and also the smallest living ratite in the world and thus related to the extinct moas of New Zealand as well as to ostriches, emus, cassowaries etc.), The Life Cycle of the Kiwi provides a delightful and decently extensive (both verbal and visual) introduction to everything kiwi for young readers from about the age of six or so onwards. And yes, even older readers would probably consider much of the information encountered in The Life Cycle of the Kiwi enlightening and interesting (on kiwi breeding and feeding habits, how kiwis are for nocturnal, consume a variety of invertebrate species as well as certain fruits and berries, that kiwis mate for life but do not actually feed their young once the eggs have hatched but do protect their hatchlings from predators and that kiwis also produce one of the largest eggs compared to body size so that a female kiwi's entire torso is basically so full of her one or at the most two eggs that she is usually almost unable to move or to eat until the egg has been laid, which is then incubated either by her mate or that sometimes male and female kiwis take turns incubating and externally standing guard over the nest, over the breeding burrow and chamber). But yes, my older adult self kind of does want a bit more criticism and condemnation by Betty Brownlie in The Life Cycle of the Kiwi of in particular cat owners who allow their pets to roam outside and that even with all of the protection and conservation measures kiwis are still vulnerable and endangered (and thus, not a five, but still a four star rating for The Life Cycle of the Kiwi, warmly recommended, but with the caveat that The Life Cycle of the Kiwi is of course due to its 2011 publication date not absolutely current and up to date, but that with non fiction books, this is of course something to be expected and rather the nature of the beast so to speak). (hide spoiler)]

Mary Anning's Curiosity is a short HF novel for newly independent readers. Manybooks recommended it to me. From my review:

Takes it to a younger audience than the other HF novels. The poverty of the Anning family isn't described as heavily as some versions of the story, though the struggles are mentioned. The art shows them clean and fed, after all.

I would say that novelists need to find new heroes for us to learn about, as I don't think we need so many books about just a few (MLK comes to mind; I swear, reading all the books about him would take longer than his lifetime). Then again, my adult son has never heard of her.

So, do read whichever book your library has about her, especially if you have children who need to be inspired to follow their curiosity.

Cheryl wrote: "Mary Anning's Curiosity is a short HF novel for newly independent readers. Manybooks recommended it to me. From my review:

Takes it to a younger audience than the other HF novels. ..."

I agree about finding new heroes than Mary Anning, but considering that almost ALL of the picture books about Mary Anning I have read have been for me pretty substandard, I would certainly recommend Mary Anning's Curiosity above for example Stone Girl, Bone Girl: The Story of Mary Anning (which has way way too many mistakes and assumptions).

I´m pretty sure I read some picturebook about Mary Anning in the last couple of years, but can´t remember the title atm, sigh.
Searching through my booklist, I found a few other titles for this topic, though:

Ada and the Number-Crunching Machine was a decent introduction for kids to Lovelace, although a bit short.
Zoë Tucker has a couple of other books I´d like to check out, likeGreta & The Giants, We Are The Apollo 11 Crew and We Are the NASA Scientists

Ruth Law Thrills a Nation has already been mentioned in the Aviation and Outstanding women´s topics, but I think deserves a mention here too.

Me...Jane as an introduction to Jane Goodall and her work was also rather good.

ETA: we´ve already collected well over 300 titles for this topic O.o

Now Stacy McAnulty Our Universe seven picture book Series seems to be quite popular and have high general reviews, but since I really did not enjoy the first tome, Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years (and found the tone a bit silly and too anthropomorphic), I have not bothered with the rest (although with the high ratings, maybe I am just not the intended audience and age group).

Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years
Moon! Earth's Best Friend
Mars! Earthlings Welcome
Sun! One in a Billion
Ocean: Waves for All
Pluto!: Not a Planet? Not a Problem!

But you can probably see from my review for Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years that I really have not enjoyed the book.

(view spoiler)[While Stacy McAnulty's "autobiographical" picture book about our planet, about planet Earth, is both informative and certainly strives to be entertaining (and yes, I do consider the general aesthetic set-up of Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years visually delightful and David Litchfield's accompanying illustrations bright, descriptive, imaginative, not to mention much fun), as an older adult who does tend to read (and enjoy) a lot of serious in tone non fiction, I indeed find rather the majority of in particular the presented humour of Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years more than a trifle contrived and artificial in scope/feel and would therefore and definitely have desired a more serious and academic tone of narration. For although yes and truly, most of the presented facts concerning Earth's history through geologic and biologic time appear to be scientifically sound and research based (and the fact that Stacy McAnulty lists her sources, that she provides a bibliography, very much appreciated), the author's attempts at making Earth narrate her "own" story (like a personal memoir) and in such an inherently chatty "I want to be your friend and companion" type of fashion sure do become rather stale and tedious, and pretty quickly at that (with particularly Earth introducing herself and the solar system as an extended family unit and then also telling us as readers that for the first few billion years, she was basically a hot and rather cranky infant, while perhaps funny to an extent, personally, this makes me groan and it does at least in my opinion also dilute and flatten the hard science facts of Earth's history).

But still, I most probably would have ranked Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years with three stars (as I am not the target audience and children might well enjoy the humorous and personal writing style considerably more than I have done), had Stacy McAnulty not also been so annoyingly human-centric. For while she does have Earth briefly state that we, that mankind can be problematic (that we litter and have a tendency not to share) Earth also does (and to and for me most frustratingly) rather categorically state that humans seemingly are to be preferred to ALL other animal species that inhabit this planet (as other animals supposedly simply and I quote here, eat and poop) and sorry, that kind of ignorant arrogance is not only problematic in and of itself, it is also the kind of dangerous "we are special" and "mankind first" philosophy that has and continues to foster and promote the belief that this planet is ours for the taking, is ours to use and exploit, flora, fauna and ecosystems be damned. And thus, I can with a good and clear conscience only consider a two star ranking at best for Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years, as attitudes of supposed human superiority really and truly do make me majorly livid (and much more so than the author's a bit groanworthy attempts at humour, which is really only a mild annoyance, as well as a very much personal quibble), and I therefore can and will also only recommend Earth! My First 4.54 Billion Years with serious reservations and the caveat that Stacy McAnulty's "mankind rules" attiude most definitely should, no must be debated and intensely discussed. (hide spoiler)]

The list for outstanding women is in the picture-book club. I'd like to read more narrative historical fiction about the more remote past for older children. I suppose there are good biographies in the non-fiction section. And I'm sure I could find more to my taste if I looked harder. It just seems, from my perspective, that Anning gets more notice and that there are others who get none.

I have read a few good historical fiction novels (but in German) about Maria Sibylla Merian, but my favourite English language non fiction books on Merian (as I have not managed to find any English language historical fiction on Merian that I have enjoyed) have been the following and are definitely highly recommended:

The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman

Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist, Scientist, Adventurer by Sarah B. Pomeroy

I also absolutely loved The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner by Marissa Moss

And I am hoping to find a copy of

Radioactive!: How Irène Curie and Lise Meitner Revolutionized Science and Changed the World by Winifred Conkling

The Curie Family: Exploring Radioactivity by Harry Henderson

Marie Curie: And the Science of Radioactivity by Naomi Pasachoff

Ada Byron Lovelace: The Lady and the Computer by Mary Dodson Wade

Merian, Anning, Lovelace, and Curie, ok. But Meitner, I've never heard of her, so thanks!

Cheryl wrote: "Merian, Anning, Lovelace, and Curie, ok. But Meitner, I've never heard of her, so thanks!"

She was one of the main scientists involved with splitting the atom. She was Jewish and got out of Germany just in time after the Nazis took over, but I always found it interesting that her family totally supported her sisters and her getting advanced degrees (and that most of the issues Lise Meitner had with getting a university education had only to do with her gender, with being a woman and not to do with being Jewish).

Read The Woman Who Split the Atom: The Life of Lise Meitner, and Lise Meitner: Had the Right Vision About Nuclear Fission (available on Open Library) is factually and informatively quite good (but that I do not at all like the accompanying graphic novel images which are ugly and caricature like).

The sequel to her There's No Ham in Hamburgers: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Foods, There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks is basically the same format but instead of food, Kim Zachman covers beverages. Readable, interesting and with a nice combination of fact and folklore (including lots of scientific and nutritional information) regarding ten beverages popular in the USA (but I frankly find it weird that no beer is chosen and that the author seems to have a chip on her shoulder against alcohol in general)


(view spoiler)[With her 2023 There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks, Kim Zachman presents and describes (not overly intensively but always enlighteningly and engagingly) lots and lots of both interesting and also sometimes a bit humorous information (both fact and fiction, both reality and folklore/legend, both historical and contemporary, as well as also providing nutritional, scientific details, interesting recipes and fun scientific activities) regarding ten (popular in the USA) drinks, and with these being water, milk, tea, coffee, carbonated beverages in general, root beer, Coca Cola, juice, juice bottles/pouches, sports drinks, and with it certainly being for me rather strange, surprising and also a trifle annoying that there are no sections on beer, wine and cocktails to be found in There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks.

But well, considering that Kim Zachman in fact seems to have a bit of a textual chip on her shoulder in There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks regarding alcoholic beverages in general and thus tends to make rather pointed negative asides against general alcohol consumption, even though it was until pasteurisation, chlorination etc. actually considerably safer to drink beer, wine and hard cider than water and milk, I am also not all that surprised that beer and wine do not get their own separate chapters, although I do personally kind of find this a bit of a lack and oversight with regard to There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks. But yes and then again, considering how horribly high in sugar and thus not really all that healthy in particular soft drinks, fruit juices, fruit cocktails and most sports drinks actually are, I do find it rather personally problematic that beer and wine are being pretty much ignored in There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks (and if mentioned, only mentioned negatively) while Coca Cola, Hawaiian Punch, Kool Aid, Tang, and other such sugar bombs are both featured and also rather majorly celebrated by Kim Zachman (and that Zachman only leaves in There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks the caveats not to consume too many high sugar containing drinks, when in my opinion in particular with Coca Cola and company, not drinking these at all would probably be the best suggestion).

Interestingly, engagingly penned is There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks and with Zachman combining cultural, historical facts and fiction with just enough science and technology for example, that lactose intolerance is actually the norm for adults and not being lactose intolerant is in fact a recent and mainly Northern European genetic mutation and that many soft drinks, even though now high sugar treats were originally conceptualised for pharmaceutical, for medicinal purposes) and that the legendary stories Kim Zachman textually provides regarding the featured beverages of There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks generally do tend to feel like scenarios which could actually have happened and do not feel all that fantastical (such as the tale regarding how the first tea was supposedly created over 4000 years ago by having wild tea leaves get blown into early Chinese emperor Shen-Nung's boiling water and that the first coffee was discovered by an Ethiopian shepherd boy and his goats).

So yes, There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks has been and continues to be an interesting and engaging reading experience that is enlightening and educational both for the intended audience, for young readers, but that There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks is in my opinion also suitable and enjoyable for adult readers (for basically anyone above the age of nine or so) desiring a basic introduction to the history of water, milk, tea, coffee, soft drinks, diverse fruit juices/fruit juice containers and sports beverages (and with the chapter by chapter bibliographies at the back of There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks providing a very user and research friendly icing on an already nicely educational proverbial reading cake, and with my only issue with There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks, aside from Kim Zachman not featuring beer and wine being that the text is just a wee bit too USA centric for me, although I do admit that Zachman is obviously writing There's No Cream in Cream Soda: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Drinks for very much and first and foremost a specifically USA audience). (hide spoiler)]

Extinct Birds and Those in Danger of Extinction

(view spoiler)[Well to tell the truth, with Philip Steele's non fiction picture book Extinct Birds and Those in Danger of Extinction, the negative and rather hopeless author attitude regarding some of the birds he describes as being in danger of extinction, specifically the kakapo, the California condor, the whooping crane and even the bald eagle should probably be taken with a major grain of proverbial salt. For while ALL of these birds are still considered vulnerable in 2023, their conservation status has actually quite nicely improved (even though for both the California condor and the kakapo, there is still much to do and a long way to go but that there is definitely more and more hope emerging) and that therefore Extinct Birds and Those in Danger of Extinction must in my opinion definitely be considered with its 1991 publication date firmly in mind, and that due to the latter, I would probably and in fact also not consider using Extinct Birds and Those in Danger of Extinction for actual educational purposes and in particular not with the intended age group, with children from about the age of eight to twelve or so without discussion and providing supplemental and more current conservation information (and that a more recently published book than Extinct Birds and Those in Danger of Extinction should really be utilised for teaching about critically endangered birds, although yes, that the information Philip Steele provides in Extinct Birds and Those in Danger of Extinction on how moas, the dodo, the passenger pigeon and the great auk became extinct seems solidly factual and well enough researched, providing education and also of course infuriating and saddening pain and heartbreak).

But while for a book published in 1991, Extinct Birds and Those in Danger of Extinction is actually pretty decent (and that I am not going to be removing stars for unavoidable datedness regarding in Steele's featured text, as the conservation status regarding kakapos, whooping cranes, California condors and bald eagles was certainly pretty much dismal in 1991), there are nevertheless two main textual issues I have encountered in Extinct Birds and Those in Danger of Extinction which prevent me from giving more than a three star rating. For one, that Philip Steele is not including a bibliography with suggestions for further reading in Extinct Birds and Those in Danger of Extinction is definitely majorly annoying and even if such a bibliography would of course be limited to books published prior to 1991, its absence still for me rather majorly reduces the educational and the research value of Extinct Birds and Those in Danger of Extinction. And for two, with regard to the extinct bird species that are textually presented in Extinct Birds and Those in Danger of Extinction, in my opinion, Steele's printed words regarding bird species that have disappeared because of us, because of human actions and behaviour, this would have much more of an impact and be much more critical and condemning if for the last known great auks killed in Great Britain and on Iceland, the names of the St. Kilda residents and the Icelandic fishermen responsible would be textually included, as well as the name of the Ohio boy who shot the last known wild passenger pigeon and that Philip Steele should also be mentioning how DDT has caused many bird species to become endangered (including the California condor and the bald eagle, and that I am pretty unpleasantly surprised how DDT is in fact not even once mentioned by the author, by Philip Steele in Extinct Birds and Those in Danger of Extinction). (hide spoiler)]

But aren't Zachman's books for kids? If so, then it's only natural there's no mention of anything alcoholic.

Cheryl wrote: "But aren't Zachman's books for kids? If so, then it's only natural there's no mention of anything alcoholic."

Franky, I do not think so, but I guess as someone who is German, I might have a different opinion here, and I personally also do stand by that opinion, as I think the negative attitude towards alcohol in the USA and in Canada makes teenaged drinking much more an issue and a case of forbidden fruit. We always were allowed to have wine and beer at dinner with my parents (and my parents also had an open liquor cabinet). But it was never I or my siblings who got drunk at school parties/dances and snuck booze out of their family's liquor cabinet but generally my Anglo classmates with parents who thought that us being able to drink a glass of wine and beer at the dinner table was horrid and evil and my parents creating potentially delinquent minors.

And honestly, why should having a section on wine and on beer automatically be dangerous? I mean, the fact that before pasteurization, people (including children) often drank hard cider, beer and wine made sense since water was often polluted and teeming with germs.

I don't like adult books that feature drinking either. But anyway that's not the point I was making. I'm just saying, industry standards would focus on non-alcoholic beverages.

Cheryl wrote: "I don't like adult books that feature drinking either. But anyway that's not the point I was making. I'm just saying, industry standards would focus on non-alcoholic beverages."

I can understand that, and I also gave the book four stars (but I still think that beer and wine should be featured and are in my opinion healthier than Coca Cola, Sprite etc. and in particular if not consumed as regularly as many soft drinks seem to be).

So one of the reasons I decided to read Deborah Savage's Flight of the Albatross was because I enjoyed the German language movie (lovely landscape shots, good information about birds and a story that felt respectful towards Maori culture). But much of Savage's text obviously needed to be changed for the movie, for Flug des Albatross, as in the novel, as in Flight of the Albatross there is a major problem with cultural appropriation and mistakes regarding Maori culture and custom as well as with a huge negativity regarding (at least in my opinion) women in science, although there certainly are some very nice descriptions and I also enjoyed reading how Sarah and Mako save and rehabilitate an albatross that had become entangled in fishing gear (but not enough for more than a two star rating for Deborah Savage's text and to consider Flight of the Albatross as having way too much cultural appropriation, mistakes and Savage actually not really understanding Maori belief because she is an outsider).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Not specifically penned with young readers in mind, but Mistaken Extinction: Dinosaur Evolution and the Origin of Birds is excellent, suitable for readers from about the age of fourteen or so onwards (and perhaps even from the age of twelve), penned educationally, without too much scientific jargon and clearly showing how one group of dinosaurs slowly evolved into birds and thus did not go extinct 65 million years ago, that today's birds are basically the class of dinosaurs that survived the K-T boundary extinction even. Highly recommended (but there appear to also be more recent books out there with additional proof and fossils.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I really enjoyed the lush and realistic illustrations of Jaqueline Harman's 2008 picture book about kiwis (What Kind of Bird am I If I Can't Fly?), as well as the search and find activity, the supplemental information (on a number of endemic New Zealand plants, insects and birds) and the activity for teachers and parents section (would have liked a bibliography though). But while the non fiction parts of What Kind of Bird am I If I Can't Fly? are wonderful, factually sound and nicely informative (and just right for the intended age group), the story itself about a young kiwi needing to find itself and to realise that flightless birds (ratites) and birds with feathers that are plain brown and do not look like the plumage of most other birds are still birds, it feels a bit too anthropomorphic for me (and I do find all these stories about kiwis not wanting to be flightless birds a bit strange).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Fifty-five Feathers

Lovely illustrations, decent and not just basic and simple using the numbers one to ten math practice (and I like how Ben Brown has no qualms in his author's note being critical and condemning, is casting blame regarding the extinction of the huia and that many of the ten featured endemic to New Zealand bird species are vulnerable and endangered). But the premise of a cloak made of fifty five bird feathers is creepy for me (since it was the demand for feathers that has caused a bird like the huia to become extinct and others to become endangered).

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Curious Kiwi Creatures

It is really too bad that Chrissie Ward's 2007 Curious Kiwi Creatures (an exploration of 49 NZ animal species, and not just birds either, but also insects, worms, geckos, spiders etc.) is out of print and seemingly also not that readily available (as after I read it on Open Library, finding a used copy has proven rather difficult). For yes, this has been a solidly five star book for me with regard to Ward's text, with regard to how she describes her chosen animal species (and I really appreciate her uncompromising attitude towards why and how many of New Zealand's endemic animal species are endangered and sometimes extinct and that she lists cats and dogs as much culprits as stoats, weasels and of course first and foremost humans, and that the Maori might started with the decimation of New Zealand's fauna but that European settlers not only continued but made things much worse). Highly recommended, and my only reason for four and not five stars is that I would want a separate and user friendly bibliography instead of just those acknowledgements before the introduction and that the black and white illustrations should also have been accompanied by photographs and scientific classifications.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I was looking forward towards reading Race to the Bottom of the Sea as I thought much of the story would be about scientific ocean exploration and biology. But the STEM elements do seem rather like window dressing at best and basically the entire story is a fantastical pirate and kidnapping adventure tale, which I am certainly NOT interested in reading at present if ever in fact as pirate stories just are and have never been my thing (and yes, I am also getting increasingly annoyed that far too often with STEM themes in fiction, we are either dealing with nerdiness or with fantasy, mystery and with Race to the Bottom of the Sea piracy). Might still get to the book sometime in the future, but for now, I just am annoyed and not interested.

Not specifically for children, but definitely interesting and suitable for readers from about the age of twelve onwards is Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares: The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms

(view spoiler)[Most certainly Greg Marley does in his educational Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares: The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms enthusiastically present to us readers how much he enjoys and treasures collecting and later consuming wild mushrooms (even presenting a number of delectable recipes featuring the edible mushroom species he considers the best and yes also the safest to pick and consume). However as someone who is and in fact has always been rather majorly afraid of poisoning myself (and others) with hand gathered mushrooms, I also do very much appreciate that in Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares: The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms, Greg Marley albeit that he in fact and naturally does try to convince that most mushrooms are indeed non toxic and not dangerous to gather and eat, he definitely also acknowledges not only that some very few mushrooms are absolutely lethally toxic (such as more than a few of the amanita species), that there are certain types of mushrooms that are possibly dangerously poisonous if one does not properly cook them (for example false morels which Marley actually does not suggest collecting and eating at all as their toxicity even when cooked is a matter of some debate) but also that if one wants to start picking and consuming wild mushrooms one should always tread warily and and be prudent with eating even species considered delightfully gourmet as some people do seem to react with moderate to severe gastric distress to mushroom species with which others seem to have absolutely not issues (and yes, to also absolutely avoid any species of mushroom that tend to look too similar to the amanitas and to also be extremely careful with deliberately trying so-called magic mushrooms and fly agarics in order to get high and/or stoned, not to mention that mushrooms also can easily store residual pesticides in them so that it is of course and naturally also better to avoid picking mushrooms in areas where there usually is much pesticide use, such as golf courses and intensely artificially manicured public parks and lawns).

Chatty without being too annoyingly personable and academic without being dry and pedantically rambling, even for someone like myself who actually (and yes even after having read Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares: The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms) would still rather look at mushrooms in the wild and collect them with my camera, as pictures, and not put them into baskets to later prepare and consume them as a source of food, Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares: The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms is indeed a wonderful introduction to not only mushroom collecting/eating and mushroom species in general but also to the history, folklore and ecology of the latter (how the health of a forest can often be determined by the kind of mushroom species present there and that mushrooms tend to have intricate relationships with not only trees but also with the many forest animals that consume them, relying on them to spread mushroom spores post eating with their excrement). Highly recommended for both active mushroom enthusiasts (and in particular those individuals who indeed might want to try their hands at collecting wild mushrooms and cooking with them), but yes, Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares: The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms is in my opinion equally interesting for those of us with just a casual interest in mushrooms (and also for those of us who would not ever really want to start mushrooming and/or are still too afraid of encountering poisonous toadstools whilst out and about collecting and searching for edible and delectable species of mushrooms). And indeed, the only reason that I am not upping my ranking to five stars is that the photographic insert should in my humble opinion have been considerably more expansive (and that in my opinion, there really should be both an illustration and a photograph of EVERY SINGLE mushroom described by Greg Marley in Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares: The Love, Lore, and Mystique of Mushrooms, for how can we really even consider knowing which mushrooms to actively search out and which to totally and utterly avoid without also being visually confronted by them as illustrations and photographs). (hide spoiler)]

The Mushroom Fan Club (fun and informative, but definitely needs a bibliography and more information on toxic mushrooms)

(view spoiler)[Engaging, full of fun and with expressive and humorous accompanying artwork (although personally, I would rather not have the mushrooms illustrated with eyes, with smiling facial features, finding this a bit too fantastical for a book that yes, even with its light and chattering, often bantering narrative is still first and foremost non fiction and educational), what I am primarily taking away from Elise Gravel’s The Mushroom Fan Club is her total declaration of love for both mushrooms and mushroom collecting and indeed, with so enthusiastically and lovingly a presented narrative that really if you are not after having finished perusing The Mushroom Fan Club also and equally at least a budding and potential mushroom fan, there is in my opinion, something perhaps a bit wrong with your general attitude. For yes, Elise Gravel’s exuberant text, graced by her equally thus pictures, how every fungus described in The Mushroom Fan Club is almost like a personal friend of author/illustrator, and this even with regard to those featured species that are toxic, that are potentially lethal if consumed, it really should make every one of us at the very least interested in mushrooms and their attributes, how they grow, what they look like, which species are edible, which are poisonous etc.

Four stars, but rounded down to a high three stars as for one, I am very much missing an included bibliography with suggestions for further reading and for two, I indeed do find it kind of a bit problematic that in The Mushroom Fan Club Elise Gravel has NOT mentioned in her blurb on false morel mushrooms that they can be extremely toxic (which considering how often they have been confused with true morel mushrooms really should be mentioned just for safety’s sake). (hide spoiler)]

Although The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals has not been penned for children, I would consider this book suitable for readers from about the age of twelve or so onwards and in particular if potential readers already have an interest in biology, evolution and the the history of life on earth.

And this is excellent and all the recent advances regarding palaeontology have really been eye-opening and interesting (but do get the dead tree edition as the e-book is a bit annoying for browsing).

Interesting, enlightening, occasionally even eye-opening (with a detailed index, an expansive bibliography for further reading and study suggestions, and yes indeed, all of the presented information and details seem to be adequately cited and acknowledged, including the many photographs, illustrations and tables) I have definitely pleasantly enjoyed my much educational perusal of Donald R. Prothero's The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals. The book is well organised and even though by nature and necessity sometimes a wee bit dragging and repetitive, The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals has generally kept my interest throughout (especially and fortunately due to the fact that the author, because Donald R. Prothero does not over-use complicated subject and science, palaeontology specific jargon, but keeps his text simple enough for easy comprehension but with always more than enough science and academics so as not to make The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals appear immature or childish).

First and foremost, I do certainly very much appreciate reading about and discovering all of the recent advances and new discoveries within the field of palaeontology (and especially of course pertaining to the study and classification of prehistoric mammals from the Triassic to the Pleistocene). And while I have indeed been at times rather taken aback by the fact that oh so much of what I have read about prehistoric mammals in the past (and even what we were taught in our junior and senior high biology classes) is now all too often pretty much completely considered woefully out of date and passé, I for one do not at ALL mind gaining this new and enlightening knowledge and information, and only very rarely during my reading of The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals was I in fact cringing a trifle at having a very goodly and large number my so-called (and with no pun intended) sacred cows of the past designated as "wastebasket" prehistoric mammalian designations and classifications (although I do wonder a bit if Donald R. Prothero might have considered using a moniker with less inherent negativity).

And finally (but importantly), I have also very much both enjoyed and been impressed with and by Donald R. Prothero's realistic and balanced approach and viewpoint regarding the at times rather controversial topic of extinction, and in particular in the case of prehistoric mammalian extinctions, the massive die-offs of in particular the aptly named gigantic mega-mammals of especially late Pleistocene North and South America, namely that while the author does state that there is likely more than some truth with regard to the "overkill" hypothesis, in other words that human hunting culture and hunting practices were at least somewhat responsible, also showing that climate change (and especially the retreating of the glaciers after the end of the last major ice age) might also have more than likely been a contributing factor (but also being pretty well adamant that the concept of yet another major asteroid impact approximately 12900 years ago in the Carolinas causing these extinctions is at best fanciful conjecture and pretty much entirely lacking in factual evidence, as the fossil record simply and certainly does not show this, and had there actually been such a mammal species mass extinction causing asteroid impact 12900 odd years ago, that Paleo-Indians would also have been majorly and devastatingly affected and well, there just is absolutely no solid evidence supporting this).

For me personally, and as someone who has always been more of a believer that in most cases, animal, plant (all lifeforms) extinctions (and actually, this also tends to pertain to other far-reaching and all encompassing world changes both today and in the distant and not so distant past) are generally not due to only ONE single and simple factor but usually the result of a combination of many such causes, many scenarios coming together, I do very much and indeed find it most pleasantly surprising and heartening that in The Princeton Field Guide to Prehistoric Mammals, Donald R. Prothero also seems to be (and very much akin to myself) a what I usually label and describe as a combinatory thinker, that while we (and that also includes many scientists both then and now) do like and often even crave simple one cause, straight forward answers and conclusions, nature (the world) is usually and generally not all that simple and that therefore, there are more often than not more than just one (or even a few) reasons for extinctions and mass extinction events (and that while in the late Pleistocene and especially in the Holocene, humans more than likely did and in todays world definitely do very much and strongly contribute to extinctions, there most probably were and continue to be other contributing factors and events to also consider).

Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species

One of the best picture books on Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution I have read (and yes, this would be a five star book if the list of suggestions for further reading were a bit more expansive and also included websites). An picture book adaptation of On the Origin of Species that is clear, simple but not simplistic, suitable for readers from about the age of eight onwards, but also for teenagers and adults who want something simple yet sufficient.

(view spoiler)[Sabina Radeva's 2019 Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species is a scientifically sound, engagingly penned picture book adaptation of Darwin’s magnum opus (and I do textually adore that Radeva has not only summarised Charles Darwin's words but also includes quite a number of direct quotes from On the Origin of Species throughout her text). And indeed, and delightfully, Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, it is basic and simple enough to allow for the main parts of Darwin's theory of evolution to become nicely accessible to children (to readers from about the age of eight or so onwards) but that at the same time Sabina Radeva also demonstrates with her printed words that children equally deserve to and need to be challenged a bit, and that with Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, Radeva's combination of textual simplicity and occasional forays into something a bit more advanced (whilst at the same time staying far enough away from convolutedness, from scientific/biological jargon and thankfully avoiding too much name dropping) certainly makes Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species a very good general introduction to Charles Darwin and to his theory of evolution not only for children but for older readers as well, for interested teenagers and adults wanting something not overly difficult and complex.

So yes, and for me personally (and as a someone for whom text kind of is the alpha and the omega), it is of course and naturally Sabina Radeva's words that are the star of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (and that I really appreciate do how Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species equally points out where Darwin might have been a bit wrong and that his theory of evolution has been ever more expanded upon because of scientific and paleontological advancements and breakthroughs, not to mention that Radeva appreciatively also points out what the theory of evolution is not and what some of the major misconceptions concerning evolution are). However and the above having been stated, the accompanying artwork for Charles Darwin's On the origin of Species (and which is also by Sabina Radeva, as she is both author and illustrator for Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species), Radeva's pictures are most definitely a visual, an evocative and delightful aesthetic treat, are colourfully vibrantly realistic while at the same time also imaginative, fun and with even some occasional and smiles inducing gentle bits of illustrative humour thrown in, and that how Sabina Radeva's words and images for Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species successfully manage to mirror and complement each other does in my humble opinion really does take a lot of the potential confusion out of the theory of evolution and renders this book almost perfect in every way (and with the back matter, with the author's note, the appendix, glossary and the suggestions for further reading being the icing on an already very delicious reading cake, although I do think that Sabina Radeva should be adding more book titles to her bibliographical list and considering that Charles Darwin's on the Origin of Species was published in 2019, yes, I do m most definitely tend to think that aside from books, theory of evolution themed websites should also be included).(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]