KIA TANISHA DRIVES HER CAR
by Eloise Greenfield & illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist
Kia Tanisha Drives Her Car ($5.95; Jan. 31, 1997; 12 pp.; 0-694-00848-6): A toddler named Kia Tanisha shows her independence, driving a toy car to her friend Angie's doorstep in this companion book to Kia Tanisha (ISBN 0-694-00847-8) and then driving home. Greenfield and Gilchrist, working within the page constraints of the board-book format, opt for two slight stories rather than tight concepts, accompanied by disappointing artwork. Some elements of the illustrations are barely sketched in, while others—e.g., the car—are given solid outlines, to disconcerting effect. The perspective shifts abruptly, from a long view of Kia Tanisha and her car to a close-up of the dashboard, where the objects—key, steering wheel, horn, even the hands—will be barely recognizable to the toddler set. (Board book. 1-4)