It won’t be difficult at all to find eager readers for this book. (Picture book. 2-4)
“I spy” fun for little ones.
Rhyming text (uncredited) invites readers to scan pages illustrated with groups of animals in order to find a baby animal hidden among the rest. Elephants adorn the cover and title page, and then parrots, orcas, hens, sea horses, snails, and other creatures populate subsequent spreads. Representative quatrains read, “With trumpeting trunks / and thundering feet, / elephants march through / the still desert heat. / And right by his mom / with his skin just as gray, / is an elephant calf / who is ready to play.” The repetitive, orderly, arrangements of the animals on the pages makes finding the baby on each one satisfyingly challenging, as does the limited color contrast between background colors and animals on many spreads. Excellent design allows layout changes to enhance visual interest, with some double-page spreads including both art and (uncredited) text, and others isolating the text to one page and the art to another, for example. Until the final spread, which shows animals of varied sizes together, the uniform scale of the individual animals makes the illustrations seem as though they’d be at home on children’s clothing fabrics or nursery décor. That last spread reveals all the parent-and-baby pairs from prior spreads and gives readers a little, final surprise to culminate the search-and-find interactivity of the book as a whole.
It won’t be difficult at all to find eager readers for this book. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9901-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Big Picture/Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Beloved Little Blue takes a bit of the mystery—and fear—out of Halloween costumes.
A lift-the-flap book gives the littlest trick-or-treaters some practice identifying partygoers under their costumes.
Little Blue Truck and his buddy Toad are off to a party, and they invite readers (and a black cat) along for the ride: “ ‘Beep! Beep! Beep!’ / says Little Blue. / ‘It’s Halloween!’ / You come, too.” As they drive, they are surprised (and joined) by many of their friends in costume. “Who’s that in a tutu / striking a pose / up on the tiniest / tips of her toes? / Under the mask / who do you see?” Lifting the flap unmasks a friend: “ ‘Quack!’ says the duck. / ‘It’s me! It’s me!’ ” The sheep is disguised as a clown, the cow’s a queen, the pig’s a witch, the hen and her chick are pirates, and the horse is a dragon. Not to be left out, Little Blue has a costume, too. The flaps are large and sturdy, and enough of the animals’ characteristic features are visible under and around the costumes that little ones will be able to make successful guesses even on the first reading. Lovely curvy shapes and autumn colors fade to dusky blues as night falls, and children are sure to notice the traditional elements of a Halloween party: apple bobbing, lit jack-o’-lanterns, and punch and treats.
Beloved Little Blue takes a bit of the mystery—and fear—out of Halloween costumes. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: July 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-544-77253-3
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.
You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!
What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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