Review by Booklist Review
Sibert medalist Walker has crafted 29 science-themed haiku, grouped by the subjects of earth, minerals, rocks, fossils, earthquakes, volcanoes, atmospheric and surface water, glaciers, and groundwater, and accompanied by Greenaway medalist Grill's hazy colored-pencil interpretations of each concept. The evocative full-bleed illustrations are primarily blue and red, and each piece is coded to a full page of back matter on the specific topic. For example, fragile outer crust / shell around mantle and core / Earth: a hard-boiled egg has its metaphor explained with a narrative geologic description. Other poems are less directly instructional and feature impressionistic spot art, such as in the H²O section: a flat stone, skipping / casts circles across the lake, / lassoing the fish. Contrasting this with the power of eruptions and tsunamis provides a broad, if not necessarily comprehensive, look at our planet, resulting in a lovely melding of science and art, perfectly positioned for our age of STEAM.--Medlar, Andrew Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 5-8-Poetry meets science in haiku on Earth's geological makeup and seismic activity. Topics include fossils, earthquakes, glaciers, groundwater, minerals, volcanoes, and more. ("Molten magma stew/bubbles out of its hot pot,/chills into hard rock.") The compact poems are accompanied by Grill's broad impressionistic landscapes done in colored pencil and a soft palette of blues, reds, grays, and yellows. Some are full-spread scenes with small indistinct human or animals and other times, spot art accompanies the poems. This is an understated collection that may not initially garner much attention; however, there are numerous uses for this book in classrooms and programs, inviting observation, discussion, and even creative expression from students. Some of the references will be vague or confusing to children, but others are more apparent. Short closing essays define and describe some of the subjects and work as brief introductions. The book concludes with a nicely varied list of children's titles for further reading. VERDICT A quiet but valuable addition to STEM-related poetry collections, hand to teachers and curious students.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
This haiku collection about Earth's geological and meteorological features combines correct terminology with a wry, child-friendly sensibility. Colored-pencil pictures are informal and sketchlike in some places and painterly in others, giving a sense of the places and action. Tiny jewels of poetry and oversize pictures will draw children into contemplating natural wonders. Symbols at the bottom of each illustration are explained in an appended section. Reading list. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Earth's geologic wonders illustrated and crystallized through haiku.From up-and-coming illustrator Grill and seasoned nonfiction author Walker comes an intriguing collaboration exploring Earth's makeup. Though choosing one of the sparest verse forms, Walker manages to capture this planet's rich geologic features while simultaneously introducing tricky vocabulary with a specificity middle-grade readers can yet relate to: "fragile outer crust, / shell around mantle and core / Earth: a hard-boiled egg." Focused on haiku's concentrated descriptive aims, Walker crafts exciting characterizations of literally explosive acts, such as a volcanic eruption"hotheaded mountain / loses its cool, spews ash cloud / igneous tantrum"along with informative prose endnotes, which include vivid descriptions of phenomena such as magma, "toothpaste-thick, fiery-hot melted rock," and engaging scientific facts. Throughout the collection, Walker's pithy portraits are accompanied by Gill's trademark colored-pencil illustrations, here expressively and somewhat abstractly rendered in muted tones, and this, perhaps, is where the work misses its mark. Given the ravishing detail presented in but a few syllables in these suggestive haiku and the fuller explanations provided at volume's end, Walker's thematic intentions might have been better served by an illustrative medium that more realistically shows what, for example, stalactites or "swirly pahoehoe" lava actually look like.In all, a provocative verse introduction to what lies on and deep below the Earth's surface. (further reading) (Picture book/poetry. 8-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.