Useful for both the very youngest listeners and their caregivers when they long for outside.
Young children are encouraged to imagine all the fun they can have when they “go outside!”
Five simple outdoor scenes focus on natural elements that toddlers will easily recognize: the sun in the sky, tall trees, buzzing bees, a sunset. Even a swimming-hole scene is sufficiently generic so either city children or country kids might picture themselves in it. The children and families (depicted with various skin tones) exude cheerful companionship and love. Details for little ones to notice and talk about are scattered throughout the uncluttered, cut-paper illustrations. Saturated colors against high-contrast backgrounds keep the design clean. One line of engaging text per spread is just right for the age group. Instructions to “Look up at the big, blue sky!” and “Now STRETCH like a tall, tall tree” are followed by questions that invite listeners to “SPLISH like a fish” and buzz like a bee. The final spread includes eight recognizable animals and an open-ended question to spark more vocabulary-building interaction. Branded “indestructible,” the Tyvek-like material may actually be just that. With a typical board-book trim size and light paperback weight, this one is sturdy enough to survive teething babies stuck at home as well as trips to the park or woods.
Useful for both the very youngest listeners and their caregivers when they long for outside. (Board book. 6 mos.-2)Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5235-0986-7
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book.
Ada Twist’s incessant stream of questions leads to answers that help solve a neighborhood crisis.
Ada conducts experiments at home to answer questions such as, why does Mom’s coffee smell stronger than Dad’s coffee? Each answer leads to another question, another hypothesis, and another experiment, which is how she goes from collecting data on backyard birds for a citizen-science project to helping Rosie Revere figure out how to get her uncle Ned down from the sky, where his helium-filled “perilous pants” are keeping him afloat. The Questioneers—Rosie the engineer, Iggy Peck the architect, and Ada the scientist—work together, asking questions like scientists. Armed with knowledge (of molecules and air pressure, force and temperature) but more importantly, with curiosity, Ada works out a solution. Ada is a recognizable, three-dimensional girl in this delightfully silly chapter book: tirelessly curious and determined yet easily excited and still learning to express herself. If science concepts aren’t completely clear in this romp, relationships and emotions certainly are. In playful full- and half-page illustrations that break up the text, Ada is black with Afro-textured hair; Rosie and Iggy are white. A closing section on citizen science may inspire readers to get involved in science too; on the other hand, the “Ode to a Gas!” may just puzzle them. Other backmatter topics include the importance of bird study and the threat palm-oil use poses to rainforests.
Adventure, humor, and smart, likable characters make for a winning chapter book. (Fiction. 6-9)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3422-9
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love.
A 13-year-old biracial girl longs to build the house of her dreams.
For Lou Bulosan-Nelson, normal is her “gigantic extended family squished into Lola’s for every holiday imaginable.” She shares a bedroom with her Filipina mother, Minda—a former interior-design major and current nurse-to-be—in Lola Celina’s San Francisco home. From her deceased white father, Michael, Lou inherited “not-so-Filipino features,” his love for architecture, and some land. Lou’s quietude implies her keen eye for details, but her passion for creating with her hands resonates loudly. Pining for something to claim as her own, she plans to construct a house from the ground up. When her mom considers moving out of state for a potential job and Lou’s land is at risk of being auctioned off, Lou stays resilient, gathering support from both friends and family to make her dream a reality. Respicio authentically depicts the richness of Philippine culture, incorporating Filipino language, insights into Lou’s family history, and well-crafted descriptions of customs, such as the birdlike Tinikling dance and eating kamayan style (with one’s hands), throughout. Lou’s story gives voice to Filipino youth, addressing cultural differences, the importance of bayanihan (community), and the true meaning of home.
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love. (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1794-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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