Readers will not only practice their colors, they’ll get an inkling of what a colorful and wonderful world we live in.
Stunning animal photos introduce children to 10 basic colors in this latest from National Geographic Kids.
From the brilliant blue Ulysses butterfly and yellow orb weaver spider to the scarlet ibis and purple honeycreeper, the colors of these animals are never in doubt, and the photos get readers so close that the scales on the iguana are visible, as are the hairs and bumps on the fiddler crab. Highlighting animals found in the rain forest, each spread features a single creature, its color in a large and matching type at the top, the animal’s name below in the same color along with a brief paragraph that gives a few facts and asks a question of readers (which it then answers): “What do you think the cockatoo is doing?” “Did You Know” boxes on each spread provide another fact. “At night an orangutan bends branches to make a bed high in the trees.” Backmatter includes a spread of fast facts about each of the featured animals (home, size, food, predators, young), a map showing the locations of rain forests around the world as well as where each picture was taken, a “Color Quiz,” a note from the photographer, a glossary and a list of resources for finding out more.
Readers will not only practice their colors, they’ll get an inkling of what a colorful and wonderful world we live in. (Informational picture book. 2-8)Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4263-1733-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: National Geographic Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees.
After Duncan finds his crayons gone—yet again—letters arrive, detailing their adventures in friendship.
Eleven crayons send missives from their chosen spots throughout Duncan’s home (and one from his classroom). Red enjoys the thrill of extinguishing “pretend fires” with Duncan’s toy firetruck. White, so often dismissed as invisible, finds a new calling subbing in for the missing queen on the black-and-white chessboard. “Now everyone ALWAYS SEES ME!…(Well, half the time!)” Pink’s living the dream as a pastry chef helming the Breezy Bake Oven, “baking everything from little cupcakes…to…OTHER little cupcakes!” Teal, who’s hitched a ride to school in Duncan’s backpack, meets the crayons in the boy’s desk and writes, “Guess what? I HAVE A TWIN! How come you never told me?” Duncan wants to see his crayons and “meet their new friends.” A culminating dinner party assembles the crayons and their many guests: a table tennis ball, dog biscuits, a well-loved teddy bear, and more. The premise—personified crayons, away and back again—is well-trammeled territory by now, after over a dozen books and spinoffs, and Jeffers once more delivers his signature cartooning and hand-lettering. Though the pages lack the laugh-out-loud sight gags and side-splittingly funny asides of previous outings, readers—especially fans of the crayons’ previous outings—will enjoy checking in on their pals.
Quirky, familiar fun for series devotees. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: June 3, 2025
ISBN: 9780593622360
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
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BOOK REVIEW
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