Despite these quibbles, this is a clear and developmentally appropriate introduction to our world for the youngest children.
A simple exploration of geography via the continents and the animals that live on them.
The first double-page spread distinguishes the continents from the oceans. The subsequent spreads are devoted to one continent each. A large map of the continent appears in the upper-left corner, and a slightly rough tactile element outlines the land masses for little fingers to trace. Three animals are pictured and named (North America features a bison, a bald eagle and a moose) in the center of the spread. A world map appears in the lower-right corner showing readers where they will be off to next when they turn the page. The final spread has a gatefold panel that opens to reveal a world map with the continents labeled and the animals again pictured in their appropriate locations. Nassner’s images are simple, clear and handsome in muted colors against subtle faux wood grain. The authors explain their approach as rooted in the Montessori method. There is potential for confusion, as the shapes as presented on the opening circular map are inevitably different from those presented on the subsequent flat projection; Antarctica in particular suffers from the transition.
Despite these quibbles, this is a clear and developmentally appropriate introduction to our world for the youngest children. (Board book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 15, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0934-0
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender...
A polar-bear parent speaks poetically of love for a child.
A genderless adult and cub travel through the landscapes of an arctic year. Each of the softly rendered double-page paintings has a very different feel and color palette as the pair go through the seasons, walking through wintry ice and snow and green summer meadows, cavorting in the blue ocean, watching whales, and playing beside musk oxen. The rhymes of the four-line stanzas are not forced, as is the case too often in picture books of this type: “When cold, winter winds / blow the leaves far and wide, / You’ll cross the great icebergs / with me by your side.” On a dark, snowy night, the loving parent says: “But for now, cuddle close / while the stars softly shine. // I’ll always be yours, / and you’ll always be mine.” As the last illustration shows the pair curled up for sleep, young listeners will be lulled to sweet dreams by the calm tenor of the pictures and the words. While far from original, this timeless theme is always in demand, and the combination of delightful illustrations and poetry that scans well make this a good choice for early-childhood classrooms, public libraries, and one-on-one home read-alouds.
Parent-child love and affection, appealingly presented, with the added attraction of the seasonal content and lack of gender restrictions. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68010-070-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2017
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