HOW DO YOU FEEL?

Name: HOW DO YOU FEEL?
Author: Anthony Browne
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5862-5

by Anthony Browne & illustrated by Anthony Browne ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2002

For a younger audience than Browne’s brilliantly dark, subtle pieces, this is a hearty, cheerful offering that appropriately...

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Emotions are so critical to childhood that there’s always room for a bright new book about them.

With blue overalls, a green sweater, yellow sneakers and a trademark Browne primate face, this toddler-shaped chimp really catches the eye. He (or perhaps she, skipping the usual girl-markers like long hair) looks up at an unseen speaker, who asks, “How do you feel?” The young chimp demonstrates various feelings: “Sometimes I feel very happy… / and sometimes I feel sad”; sometimes confident, guilty, angry, silly, shy or worried. Browne uses scale, hue, facial expression and minimalist backgrounds to make each watercolor-and-gouache picture fetching in its own way. “[B]ored” shows a black-and-white spread, toys banished to a corner, mouth open in a blasé yawn. “[L]onely” shows young chimp small and far away, isolated in a vast white spread, casting a fragile shadow. On the royal-blue “sad” page, the young chimp gazes miserably out a window while raindrops fall indoors, symbolically. The last three feelings—hungry, full and sleepy—shift from emotional to physical but are certainly relevant. A final spread shows thumbnail reprints for kids to point to and name as they answer the query, “How do YOU feel?”

For a younger audience than Browne’s brilliantly dark, subtle pieces, this is a hearty, cheerful offering that appropriately refrains from undermining the non-cheerful emotions. (Picture book. 1-4)

Pub Date: May 1, 2002

ISBN: 978-0-7636-5862-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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BIG GORILLA
by Anthony Browne ; illustrated by Anthony Browne

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A BOY, HIS DOG, AND THE SEA
by Anthony Browne ; illustrated by Anthony Browne

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HIDE AND SEEK
by Anthony Browne ; illustrated by Anthony Browne

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S VALENTINE

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 8, 2020

Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires.

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Little Blue Truck feels, well, blue when he delivers valentine after valentine but receives nary a one.

His bed overflowing with cards, Blue sets out to deliver a yellow card with purple polka dots and a shiny purple heart to Hen, one with a shiny fuchsia heart to Pig, a big, shiny, red heart-shaped card to Horse, and so on. With each delivery there is an exchange of Beeps from Blue and the appropriate animal sounds from his friends, Blue’s Beeps always set in blue and the animal’s vocalization in a color that matches the card it receives. But as Blue heads home, his deliveries complete, his headlight eyes are sad and his front bumper droops ever so slightly. Blue is therefore surprised (but readers may not be) when he pulls into his garage to be greeted by all his friends with a shiny blue valentine just for him. In this, Blue’s seventh outing, it’s not just the sturdy protagonist that seems to be wilting. Schertle’s verse, usually reliable, stumbles more than once; stanzas such as “But Valentine’s Day / didn’t seem much fun / when he didn’t get cards / from anyone” will cause hitches during read-alouds. The illustrations, done by Joseph in the style of original series collaborator Jill McElmurry, are pleasant enough, but his compositions often feel stiff and forced.

Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires. (Board book. 1-4)

Pub Date: Dec. 8, 2020

ISBN: 978-0-358-27244-1

Page Count: 20

Publisher: HMH Books

Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK MAKES A FRIEND
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

- BOOK REVIEW
TIME FOR SCHOOL, LITTLE BLUE TRUCK
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

- BOOK REVIEW
GOOD NIGHT, LITTLE BLUE TRUCK
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S SPRINGTIME

From the Little Blue Truck series

by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2018

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.

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Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.

This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.

Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)