TITLE: Rocket Says Look Up!
by Nathan Bryon, illustrated by Dapo Adeola (Random House), 32 pages, $17.99
STORY: Rocket, a nerdy city girl, has an obsession just like that portrayed in a recent episode of Young Sheldon, the TV series that re-imagines the know-it-all anti-hero of The Big Bang Theory as an adorable child. Rocket knows a meteor shower is coming and wants to teach everyone about meteors.
She recites facts nonstop, especially about astronaut Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space. Rocket even takes over the supermarket intercom to invite strangers to the park to see the meteors.
The adults in her life, including her bored older brother, do not disappoint her the way Sheldon's disappointed him: They come to the park. But the meteors don't, not at first. Readers thus learn a good thing to know about meteor showers, that they don't turn on and off like a TV.
This book targets an age group (3-7) that doesn't like facial asymmetry. Adeola's illustrations generally make the gap-toothed stargazer cute enough, when her mouth is closed; but the way he rounds those big white teeth on the bookcover makes her look deformed.
We found Roda Ahmed's Mae Among the Stars (see Read to Me from July 15) more inspiring.
-- Celia Storey
Read to Me is a weekly review of short books.
ActiveStyle on 07/22/2019