Nerdy Babies: Weather

March 1, 2020
A quartet of crawlers in eyeglasses and onesies gets the lowdown on weather. Following up Space and Ocean (both 2019) in the Nerdy Babies series, Kastner breezes through a broad range of often complex meteorological topics, from rain, snow, and hail ("Precipitation!") to select types of clouds, thunder and lightning, and the difference between "weather" and "climate." How much of this the multiracial set of precocious toddlers on view ("The wind has socks?" asks one. "Kind of!" answers another) or the actual rug rats they supposedly represent will absorb is questionable. However, putting the information out there does at least make it available to caregivers, and the author's repeated appeals to be, and stay, curious about the world is a worthy message for everyone. In a companion volume, Rocks, she makes the same plea while chipping away at the three types of rocks, geological formations, the rock cycle, and (without actually using the term, which is odd in a discourse featuring terms like "metamorphic" and "stalagmite") plate tectonics. The "nerd" glasses are a cute, if stereotypical, conceit, but the babies are winningly expressive, and aside from a strangely drab rainbow in Weather, the illustrations add washes of bright color. Both titles are available in board editions, enabling caregivers to share them with an audience even less likely to understand them. Likely to miss its intended audience--but may find another. (Informational picture book. 2-6)

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