Lyrically dazzling, artistically stunning.
Stained glass–like cutouts depict the sky from dawn to dusk.
Caldecott Honor author/illustrator Becker takes readers on a visually striking, poetic journey through the day with the vibrant sky as the backdrop. The board book opens, “Its dawn begins in darkness,” and a swirl of thick black lines and geometric cutouts scrawl across the page. The cutouts, scattered throughout, have colorful, translucent inserts. Holding them up to a light source (for most success, try a sunny window) gives these a stained-glass effect in a palette matching the page. Each cutout complements the page that it is first found on as well as the next layout, mimicking the way the sky shifts subtly throughout the day, with colors evolving and deepening but not completely vanishing. Becker’s blend of hues is strategically chosen to resemble the delicate mix of blues, purples, and pinks that accompany an early morning sky. As the day progresses, there are orangey pinks, light blues, and little white patches that suggest clouds. The darkening sky at dusk reflects the morning’s pinks and purples until it becomes a dark purple with white sprays of stars: night. Between Becker’s poetic text, featuring satisfying alliteration (“We wonder at its wildness”) and the amazing sense of movement and color, readers are treated to a feast for the ears, eyes, and imagination.
Lyrically dazzling, artistically stunning. (Board book. 2-6)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2536-5
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Candlewick Studio
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.
A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.
The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665954761
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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