Test This Book!

June 1, 2020
A hands- and butts-on invitation to do science. On the way to a basic version of the scientific method outlined in an appendix, Zong has lab-coated professors Bear and Frog urge readers to perform a series of "experiments" to find out if you can literally "do everything with books," and then turn pages to observe the results. In the very simple cartoon illustrations the two researchers generally take a beating as they are shaken, turned upside down, bellowed at ("If you're in a library, only yell a little"--whatever that means), and sat on. This last is a distinctly bad idea if the book's being read on a tablet, and things go further awry when young readers/researchers are offered a lollipop--not to lick (which is theoretically feasible, if unsanitary) but as a reward which, being only an image, can't be taken. What, there's something books can't do? Off scurry the two professors to modify their hypothesis. Scientific enquiry gets a more methodical showing in Camille Andros' Charlotte the Scientist Is Squished! illustrated by Brianne Farley (2017), and budding experimenters eager to put their reading through the wringer will get more satisfaction from Dave Eggers' Abner & Ian Get Right-Side Up, illustrated by Laura Park (2019), or Herv� Tullet's inimitable Press Here (2011). (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 48% of actual size.) Well meant, not thought through. (Picture book. 5-7)

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