A playful addition to the siblings-at-play shelf.
Two anthropomorphized elephants play pretend in three minichapters.
“Wee-ooo! Wee-ooo!” Wendel, a toddler-sized elephant, wields his toy firetruck’s hose and knocks down his big sister’s building-block creations. Maggie’s angry, but noticing that her anger distresses him, she calls out for help—inviting firefighter Wendel to save the day. Where the living room had a blank white background, the fantasy firefighting scene has a black background, a brick building, rising flames, and water gushing from the hose. Doerrfeld uses the same thick-lined drawings in the real-world settings and the imagination settings, but in the fantasy scenes, the backgrounds are dark, simultaneously more ominous and more whimsical than the real world, and more colors appear. In the second story, pet-shop proprietor Maggie tries to satisfy picky customer Wendel; both the chosen pet and the rejected ones come to amusing, expressive life in the fantasy scene. The third story begins in a fantasy setting: Maggie’s rescuing Wendel from a cave-prison, in some sort of jungle with a red ocean. Suddenly the scene toggles back to their real-life dining room and living room, where their mom’s observing the havoc wreaked by the game. Will she scold? Nope—she sets sail with them in their steampunk water-to-air ship. Text is minimal throughout, and even speech bubbles sometimes contain symbols (a dollar sign; a sea monster) rather than words.
A playful addition to the siblings-at-play shelf. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: March 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3974-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
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
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Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
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