In Just 9 Simple Steps and Only 100 Million Years!
February 15, 2022
From rock to mature mountain in nine steps--and millions of years! An engaging raccoon narrator, a companion woodpecker, and a girl with medium brown skin and puffy ponytails guide readers on a challenging mountain-making journey. First, readers must find a "supercolossal" rock and push it into another giant rock so that it will "crumple into folds," as happens in the process known as continental collision. Other steps include carving waterways, creating an alpine glacier that will sculpt the mountain and its valleys, melting the glacier, forming mountain soil, adding plant life, and introducing animals. Object lessons using familiar items and hands-on activities make the narrative accessible. The text uses comparisons to aid comprehension: Tectonic plates "move about as fast as your fingernails grow." Pencil, gouache, and digital artwork in soft earth and forest tones shows a mountain forming page by page. Some illustrations, like a double-page spread showing how vegetation varies according to altitude, serve as friendly annotated diagrams. Making a mountain is hard work, but the raccoon guide sprinkles topical humor throughout. An unexpected encounter with a crocodile ancestor in the Arctic adds interest. The final step is all about enjoying the mountain and protecting it through stream cleanups, trail maintenance, and hiker education. The backmatter includes a glossary of mountain features. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A useful, engaging, and clearly delineated distillation of a complex geological process. (afterword) (Informational picture book. 5-8)
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March 1, 2022
Grades K-3 Most how-to books give instructions for projects that will take somewhere between a few minutes and a few weeks. Making a mountain takes 100 million years! And the "easy steps" may not be quite so simple. Using a friendly but informative second-person voice, the humorous narrator treats readers as full participants in the geologic process, complete with explanations as needed. For example, Huntington defines the word glacier and relates glaciers to Earth's ancient cooling, then instructs, "To make a glacier, . . . [gather] snowmaking machines, bazillions of them. This could take a while. Let's say tens of thousands of years." Lemon's sketch-like illustrations match the engaging tone. Even as they bring to life the huge changes undergone by the mountain-in-the-making, they also convey the delight of the child creator and her raccoon assistant at their accomplishments. An "Additional Mountain-Crafting Projects" section at the end introduces more specialized mountain features and vocabulary, and the afterword addresses the general complexity of geological change on our planet. Earth science charmingly disguised as a how-to manual.
COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
May 9, 2022
In this appropriately oversize book, Huntington’s wry omniscient narrator instructs a brown-skinned child, plus raccoon and woodpecker sidekicks, on how to construct an entire mountain ecosystem—from the peak itself to its waterways, microclimates, flora, and fauna. It’s a project in which time is elastic: as the child pushes a “supercolossal” rock onto another (mimicking the movement of continental plates), the narrator informs her that it will take “millions of years, in fact. I hope you brought some snacks.” After several more steps on this monumental to-do list (“Let’s consider bringing in a glacier”), the mountainside is flourishing, and even the narrator is impressed: “I love the lake. Nice job on the foothills.” Lemon’s pencil, gouache, and digital art runs with the premise, bringing an on-the-fly quality to the massive forces at work while conveying the indomitable will and enthusiasm of a kid on a mission. A strong message of stewardship and a glossary of terms round out this presentation of basic earth science and geology concepts. Ages 5–8.
June 1, 2022
Gr 2-4-In this illustrated information book about mountain formation, readers join a girl and her raccoon friend as they work, like young earth scientists, through nine steps that will guarantee the creation of a mountain that supports plant and animal life. While the passage of millions of years is cited in these key steps, readers with a solid introductory grasp of earth science concepts, the water cycle, and basic geological features will build a deeper understanding of the effects that climate patterns, water, and time have on this grand phenomenon in nature. At times, the second-person viewpoint reads like a cheerful how-to guide about adding the necessary features and processes that form a mountain, while a crisp, descriptive tone connects the scientific information. Short phrases, metaphors, and exclamations color the illustrated demonstrations of geological concepts and changes, emphasizing an engaging mix of large, shaded swatches of watercolorlike blends and finer details from colored pencil lines and textures. This is for careful readers. The "steps," which are labeled with large print letters, are designed to be read in strict sequential order; the text is sprinkled liberally with geological terms, though not all are defined; the small, thin font becomes lost at times in expansive illustrations. Other relevant geologic terms are introduced in the back matter, as is a reflective afterword. VERDICT Highly recommended for the curious upper elementary reader interested in earth science or paired with a geology unit that explores mountain formation and geological terms.-Rachel Mulligan
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