Potentially helpful but far from terrific.
The new Terrific Toddlers series explores toddlerhood’s trials and jubilations.
The book’s opening page juxtaposes an illustration of first-aid supplies with expository text that reads, “Sometimes we get boo-boos! Sometimes boo-boos hurt, and sometimes they are scary.” The next spread shifts to a narrative about a little girl named Jo-Jo who appears black, with light brown skin and hair done up in two twists. When she falls and hurts her chin, her father (who shares her coloring) comforts her, and then he uses the first-aid supplies from the first page to treat her small wound. While the text provides good modeling for adult readers to use to validate, calm, and distract kids with minor injuries such as this, the watercolor illustrations falter in their characterization of Daddy and his expressions. His vacant, distant stares on some spreads are anything but comforting. This artistic misstep is apparent in the companion titles, All Mine! (about helping toddlers share) and Bye-Bye! (about dealing with everyday separation anxiety). Both of these latter books feature multiracial casts of characters, and all three have a backmatter “Note to Parents and Caregivers” expanding on their respective focuses. Sadly, they also all include flawed depictions of adults whose facial expressions are difficult to read, which seems especially damning in books about adults helping children with emotional regulation.
Potentially helpful but far from terrific. (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4338-2875-1
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Magination/American Psychological Association
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
Little Blue Truck keeps on truckin’—but not without some backfires.
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Wonderful, indeed
A love song to baby with delightful illustrations to boot.
Sweet but not saccharine and singsong but not forced, Martin’s text is one that will invite rereadings as it affirms parental wishes for children while admirably keeping child readers at its heart. The lines that read “This is the first time / There’s ever been you, / So I wonder what wonderful things / You will do” capture the essence of the picture book and are accompanied by a diverse group of babies and toddlers clad in downright adorable outfits. Other spreads include older kids, too, and pictures expand on the open text to visually interpret the myriad possibilities and hopes for the depicted children. For example, a spread reading “Will you learn how to fly / To find the best view?” shows a bespectacled, school-aged girl on a swing soaring through an empty white background. This is just one spread in which Martin’s fearless embrace of the white of the page serves her well. Throughout the book, she maintains a keen balance of layout choices, and surprising details—zebras on the wallpaper behind a father cradling his child, a rock-’n’-roll band of mice paralleling the children’s own band called “The Missing Teeth”—add visual interest and gentle humor. An ideal title for the baby-shower gift bag and for any nursery bookshelf or lap-sit storytime.
Wonderful, indeed . (Picture book. 1-4)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-37671-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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