Charlotte Guillain

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for this honest review

This beautifully illustrated book is a comprehensive look at the oceans, covering tides, shorelines, and successively deeper biomes. The enormous variety of life in the oceans, and the interdependence of some sea creatures and plants, make this an excellent choice for learning about our oceans. The format can also be enjoyed in several sittings as a picture book for younger readers. Each illustration is gorgeously detailed show more and helps to illuminate the text. The “Plastic Ocean” and “Melting Sea Ice” spreads deal sensitively with the effects of pollution and global warming, and a map of the oceans with a note about protecting them is followed by an excellent index. An exceptional resource and a wonderful book to browse - highly recommended. show less

My Big Fantastic Family has the feel of a modern TV sitcom. It shows what blended families can look like and how that impacts one young girl named Lily-May. The story follows her changes, challenges, and happy adjustments after her parents separate/divorce. Changes unsettle her from her mom's new boyfriend, his kids, and parents to a new cat to forgetting her favorite bear while going back and forth between homes. The book addresses her uneasiness but also shows how she is gaining so much, show more not just losing her old life. The text contains a consistent rhyme scheme that doesn't seem forced. The illustrations are simple with the effect that it could be anyone's home, but subtle details add character like the wisps of gray in her mom and dad's hair or the pirate theme in the books she reads and toys she plays with. This would be a fantastic addition to any home or school library.

Nosy Crow Publishing also provides a QR code with a link to a read-aloud that is well-produced. It includes an expressive reader, sound effects, a note when to turn the page, and a musical intro and outro. Young readers who are learning to read on their own will appreciate that element.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program in exchange for an honest review. show less

This fascinating book begins by outlining its premise:

“When you’re walking along the city streets
There’s always so much to see and hear.
Cars and buses roar past and honk loudly.
People chatter and shout to each other as
They go to work and do their shopping.
The store windows are colorful and bright.

But do you ever stop and look down?

What’s going on deep in the ground
Under your feet? Let’s take a peek!”

The reader then takes the journey downward assisted by the foldout, concertina show more format. Each element passed along the way of the first side of the foldout is briefly explained. It begins with water pipes and electrical wires and cables, adding that living things are there also, such as earthworms, centipedes, and microorganisms, describing the functions they perform as well as what the inanimate objects are for. The journey goes yet deeper, uncovering bones and objects left from prior inhabitants, then clay, bedrock, sedimentary rock, underground water, granite, igneous rock, crust, magma, mantle, outer core and inner core of the planet. Then the foldout turns over to show us we have reached the other side. Up the journey begins again through the earth’s crust, passing minerals, fossils, animal holes, and topsoil.

The author exclaims:

“What a long journey”. It’s good to see the sunlight again and feel the cool shade of the trees. It’s so peaceful here that it’s amazing to think about everything that’s happening way down beneath your feet!”

Amazing, indeed. What a wonderful teaching tool for children!

Yuval Zommer created painted, stenciled, and collaged full-bleed illustrations with a palette that changes from the cool tones near the surface to the warmer colors one might associate with the fiery core of the Earth.

Evaluation: This book would make an excellent accompaniment for at-home lessons one could combine with long, informative walks. show less

The Skies Above My Eyes by Charlotte Gullain is a non-fiction book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary. This is a very clever and gorgeously illustrated book. The book starts out asking the reader to look up and asks the reader to note the things in the sky close to them, then farther away, then farther, then farther... on up to the last planets in our solar system. Then it follows an asteroid back down, all the while teaching the different layers of the atmosphere, show more planets, asteroid belts, and more. It follows it all the way back down to the little girl that is still looking up but now to things that are much closer. Very clever. The illustrations are busy, bright, imaginative, and will keep the most restless reader reading and interested. Clever all the way around!!! Learning and they get the wonder of the sky and beyond, delightful! show less