A one-trick pony unlikely to tempt readers into a second ride.
Holding alternate pages up to a light reveals animals hiding, sleeping, or foraging through a winter night.
Leading questions—“Whoosh! What has landed in the tree?”—caption painted views of fallen leaves, snow-covered evergreen branches, birch catkins, berries on leafless branches, and unmarked expanses of snow. These conceal either snowflakes or birds, snails, and other creatures that, being rendered on the undersides of each recto as white figures on solid-black backgrounds, become visible when held up to the light. As several of the animals are peeking out on the colored sides too, there isn’t always much guesswork involved. Possibly in service to the gimmick, the colors overall look rather wan, both here and in the co-published On the Construction Site, which features an unexciting bevy of stylized heavy-duty vehicles digging holes or carting such visually stimulating materials as rocks and cement. In both, the explanatory notes are couched in simple, declarative sentences with additional facts supplied in a closing spread. But the information is standard-issue, the hidden elements aren’t drawn to scale (a dormant bumblebee on the first spread of Winter is big enough to frighten unwary tots), and the art seems drab next to such other takes on these ever popular topics as Kate Messner and Christopher Silas’ Over and Under the Snow (2011) and Sally Sutton and Brian Lovelock’s Construction (2014).
A one-trick pony unlikely to tempt readers into a second ride. (Informational novelty picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-78240-277-0
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Kane Miller
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
Amusing, yes. Useful for reading practice, yes, but not necessarily guaranteed to make new readers the “read-i-est.” (Early...
Elephant and Piggie make an appearance to introduce the first in their new series, an egalitarian introduction to superlatives.
Each one of seven blades of talking grass—of a total of eight—discovers that it is superb at something: it’s tallest, curliest, silliest, and so forth. The humor aims to appeal to a broad spectrum. It is slightly disturbing that one being eaten by purple bugs is proud of being the crunchiest, but that will certainly appeal to a slice of the audience. The eighth blade of grass is grappling with a philosophical identity crisis; its name is Walt, a sly reference to Whitman's Leaves of Grass that will go right over the heads of beginning readers but may amuse astute parents or teachers. Tension builds with the approach of a lawn mower; the blades of grass lose their unique features when they are trimmed to equal heights. Mercifully, they are chopped off right above the eyes and can continue their silly banter. Departing from the image of a Whitman-esque free spirit, Walt now discovers he is the neatest. Lots of speech bubbles, repetition, and clear layout make this entry a useful addition to lessons on adjectives and superlatives while delivering a not-so-subtle message that everyone is good at something. Elephant and Piggie's final assertion that “this book is the FUNNIEST” doesn't necessarily make it so, however.
Amusing, yes. Useful for reading practice, yes, but not necessarily guaranteed to make new readers the “read-i-est.” (Early reader. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4847-2635-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
A solo debut for Wenzel showcasing both technical chops and a philosophical bent.
Wouldn’t the same housecat look very different to a dog and a mouse, a bee and a flea, a fox, a goldfish, or a skunk?
The differences are certainly vast in Wenzel’s often melodramatic scenes. Benign and strokable beneath the hand of a light-skinned child (visible only from the waist down), the brindled cat is transformed to an ugly, skinny slinker in a suspicious dog’s view. In a fox’s eyes it looks like delectably chubby prey but looms, a terrifying monster, over a cowering mouse. It seems a field of colored dots to a bee; jagged vibrations to an earthworm; a hairy thicket to a flea. “Yes,” runs the terse commentary’s refrain, “they all saw the cat.” Words in italics and in capital letters in nearly every line give said commentary a deliberate cadence and pacing: “The cat walked through the world, / with its whiskers, ears, and paws… // and the fish saw A CAT.” Along with inviting more reflective viewers to ruminate about perception and subjectivity, the cat’s perambulations offer elemental visual delights in the art’s extreme and sudden shifts in color, texture, and mood from one page or page turn to the next.
A solo debut for Wenzel showcasing both technical chops and a philosophical bent. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5013-0
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
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