Curious Pearl, science girl: Curious Pearl identifies the reason for seasons by Eric Braun, illustrated by Stephanie Dehennim

This series features Pearl, a young Asian girl with a diverse cast of friends, who enjoys exploring science. It's part of Capstone's 4D augmented reality science experience titles. Pages with a star icon can be scanned with an app and add additional resources and information to the reading experience. There are also online resources. I do have a few families who like these additional resources, and I've purchased some of Capstone's origami 4D titles as I think the linked videos will be helpful, but I don't personally have the technology to review this aspect of the book.

The narrative starts with Pearl and her friend Sal hanging out and observing the sunset. They segue into a discussion of the seasons and, with the help of friends and family and her science notebook, Pearl learns about the seasons. Rotation of the earth, changes in the sun, and even some brief mentions of climate change are referenced as Pearl learns all about how seasons are created. Additional questions and science activities are included at the end.

This is one that I think is best-suited for use in a classroom or teaching situation, especially with the added tech. The text is fairly lengthy and doesn't really work well as a story. I felt that it was pushing it a bit to make it narrative nonfiction and it would have done better as expository. However, some kids will click more with a story and I'm guessing the addition of videos and the other additional resources will clarify some of the scientific explanations that get a bit bogged down.

Verdict: I'll suggest this to my local charter school which enjoys resources like this for use with younger classes and also to some of my teachers and see if they find it useful.

ISBN: 9781515813439; Published 2017 by Capstone; Review copy provided by the publisher