An entrancingly designed alphabet book that will keep young (and old) peering at and poring over it for a long time. There are no words (except at the end), just the letters of the alphabet. Some get one page, some two, some share. For each, a detailed montage in grisaille is full of objects and activities that begin with the featured letter. Each page also has superimposed on it a full-color figure in the shape of its namesake: G, for example, is a golfer, with his swinging club and the green grass forming a clearly defined letter. Along the bottom of each page, two mice scamper. One has a cart of letters, which he places along the bottom so the alphabet grows as the pages proceed. The mouse’s antics reflect the letter: he juggles the letter J, kicks the letter K, and for N, he takes a nap. His companion mouse is usually within the picture somewhere: lodged in the hat of the quartet for Q, driving the toy train with an engineer’s cap on his head for T. The style is exaggerated and obsessively detailed, and it is hard not to be amused by one or another of the mice (that’s one turning a cartwheel on C). The last page lists all the words illustrated on each page that begin with its letter—and they aren’t just nouns, which is an added plus. O for original and offbeat. (Alphabet picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8037-2613-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...
Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.
The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.
While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An inviting look at the first day of school in Miss Bindergarten's class. The simple rhyming text tells how the animal children get ready for the big event; as a bonus, the names of the students are listed alphabetically, each first letter corresponding to its animal type (Jessie is a jaguar, Zak is a zebra, etc.): ``Gwen McGunny/packs her bunny./Henry Fetter/fights his sweater.'' The procession is interspersed with the preparations of Miss Bindergarten, aided by her pet cockatoo, in her classroom. Wolff's fine illustrations add texture to a fairly simple concept. The teacher is depicted as an efficient sheepdog; eager and organized, she tapes notes on her furniture reminding her to ``have fun,'' yet forgets to take the price tag off her dress. The use of extinct animals for the more obscure letters only adds to the fun. In this soothing introduction to an anxiety-filled event, Slate (Who Is Coming to Our House?, 1988, etc.) makes the first day a pleasure for everyone involved. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-525-45446-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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