Accompanied by illustrations fittingly charged with movement, minimal couplets tell the story of how a day’s-worth of goods are conveyed to their various destinations. After the stacking of newspapers, the news vans push off into the pre-dawn, while Suen (Baby Born, 1998, etc.) works other deliveries into the picture as the day progresses: canned goods, boxes, flowers. The text never exceeds 10 words per page, and is gauged to the youngest listener: “On its way,/a new day,” and “Wheels and wings/carry many things.” Larger distribution networks are developed—highway arteries, flyways, rail lines, and shipping lanes—until Suen closes the circle with the piping of oil into the city. Zahares elegantly links every pastel-rich illustration to the next, back and forth through space and time and perspectives, until readers are once again at the morning gas pump—the end of the line for the city’s petroleum web—with the newspaper delivery man and the sun just cracking the horizon. Both text and art have a pleasing circularity that corrals the rhythms of the day so that they can be appreciated anew. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-670-88455-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
Miranda’s book counts the monsters gathering at a birthday party, while a simple rhyming text keeps the tally and surveys the action: “Seven starved monsters are licking the dishes./Eight blow out candles and make birthday wishes.” The counting proceeds to ten, then by tens to fifty, then gradually returns to one, which makes the monster’s mother, a purple pin-headed octopus, very happy. The book is surprisingly effective due to Powell’s artwork; the color has texture and density, as if it were poured onto the page, but the real attention-getter is the singularity of every monster attendee. They are highly individual and, therefore, eminently countable. As the numbers start crawling upward, it is both fun and a challenge to try to recognize monsters who have appeared in previous pages, or to attempt to stay focused when counting the swirling or bunched creatures. The story has glints of humor, and in combination with the illustrations is a grand addition to the counting shelf. (Picture book. 3-8)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201835-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
Baker (Big Fat Hen, 1994, etc.) engages in more number play, posing ducklings in every combination of groups, e.g., “Splashing as they leap and dive/7 ducklings, 2 plus 5.” Using a great array of streaked and dappled papers, Baker creates a series of leafy collage scenes for the noisy, exuberant ducklings to fill, tucking in an occasional ladybug or other small creature for sharp-eyed pre-readers to spot. Children will regretfully wave goodbye as the ducks fly off in neat formation at the end of this brief, painless introduction to several basic math concepts. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-292858-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
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