Cutesy but insubstantial—this is one to skip.
McGrath welcomes readers of this latest celebratory offering to a birthday party, where objects such as treats from a piñata, presents, candles, and friends offer counting opportunities, from six balloons down to one goody bag filled with candy.
The festive illustrations and bold images are colorful, and the simple text set in large white type has little rhythm. “5 / Breaking the piñata is fun. Five treats fall out.” The five children in the book have skin colors ranging from white to brown, but the expressions on their faces are exactly the same. The four candles on the birthday cake may not correspond to the age of the child reading this simple and basic board book, offering a point of confusion. Cut in the shape of a birthday cake with four candles, this book also suffers from the same cropping issues that have plagued other books in the First Celebrations series, resulting in balloons that are incomplete and gouging into the children’s heads. To give 1- or 2-year-old children a birthday book they can really enjoy, count on Karen Katz’s Where Is Baby’s Birthday Cake? (2008) or Jo Lodge’s Happy Birthday, Mr. Croc! (2015).
Cutesy but insubstantial—this is one to skip. (Board book. 9 mos.-2)Pub Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-58089-537-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
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
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Another Seuss-chimera joins the ranks of the unforgettable Herlar and with the advent of the Grinch— a sort of Yule Ghoul who lives in a cave just north of who-ville. While all the Who's made ready on Christmas Eve the Grinch donned a Santa-Claus disguise. In gurgling verse at a galloping gait, we learn how the Grinch stole the "presents, the ribbons, the wrappings, the tags, the tinsel and trappings," from all the Who's. But the Grinch's heart (two sizes too small) melted just in time when he realized that the Who's enjoyed Christmas without any externals. Youngsters will be in transports over the goofy gaiety of Dr. Seuss's first book about a villain — easily the best Christmas-cad since Scrooge. Inimitable Seuss illustrations of the Grinch's dog Max disguised as a reindeer are in black and white with touches of red. Irrepressible and irresistible.
Pub Date: Oct. 12, 1957
ISBN: 0394800796
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1957
BOOK REVIEW
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BOOK REVIEW
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