Cool pastels and sleek, highly graphic lines give visual heft to this brief, tactile tour of the farm. The sheep on the cover sports fuzzy fleece, the barn is made of vertically oriented brown corrugated “wood,” the pig features a patch of touch-it-again moleskin, the tractor is equipped with a marvelously rubbery-feeling tire, the hens walk across a corkboard-like yard and the cow’s brown spot is a soft terrycloth. If the touch-and-feel elements are superior to many of their ilk, however, the text is not, achieving rhyme but not much meaning: “Feel the GROUND. / Hens run around. // Touch the COW. / Do it now.” This flaw, combined with the low-contrast palette, makes this one a miss. A companion, Count (ISBN: 978-1-934706-75-6), shares this book’s visual sensibility, but not its tactile aspect. (Ages 6-18 mos.)
Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-934706-74-9
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Blue Apple
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2009
The chic home-furnishings juggernaut continues its forays into children’s books (Count, 2009, etc.). Their trademark clean, sophisticated lines and hip, muted palette adapt well to this introductory food-introduction book. Corn (on the cob), apple, orange, grapes, watermelon, strawberry, pretzel, carrots and peas all appear in appropriate, if not bold, coloration, embossed in a shiny, smooth material that, when appropriate, is embossed again to highlight salient features such as kernels of corn, watermelon seeds and pretzel salt. Go (ISBN: 978-1-60905-000-9) gives the same treatment to modes of transportation (including a blimp!) and such attendant accessories as traffic lights and directional signs. They may be a little soulless, but they will coordinate with your bath linens. (Board book. 6 mos.-1)
Pub Date: March 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-60905-001-6
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Blue Apple
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The perennially popular lift-the-flap format combines with the equally well-received invitation to make animal noises in this pleasing romp through a variety of regions and biomes. An African child on the riverbank asks, “Who can snap?” Lift the flap in the reeds for the answer: “I’m a crocodile. I can!” A duck in a farm pond, a panda in a bamboo grove, a wolf on the tundra and a parrot in an Asian jungle follow in succession, all leading to a final spread that unites all the children: “And we all can sing!” Mockford’s illustrations employ baby-friendly bold, black outlines and vibrant colors. A companion volume, Walk with Me (ISBN: 978-1-84686-179-6), explores animal locomotion. (6-24 mos.)
Pub Date: March 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-84686-180-2
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2009
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