A charming, challenging, imaginative alphabet book; will induce giggles.
A girl chases a stray pet through an animal parade in this zany collection of alphabet animals and their owners.
When brown-haired Zoe notices a sign for the pet parade, she asks her grandfather if she can get a pet. After assuring her grandfather she’s ready for the responsibility of being a pet owner, she heads to the parade. There, they see a wacky assortment of town residents and some very strange pets, one for each letter of the alphabet. But when a “critter that strayed, / out of the crowd into the parade,” starts causing a ruckus, Zoe zooms after it on her bicycle, chasing it through the alphabet until she finally rescues it and knows exactly which pet she wants for herself. Unlike alphabet books geared toward the youngest readers, this collection of alphabetical creatures and characters features fun and challenging vocabulary words (intercepted, orneriest, oscillated) to go with sometimes lesser-known animals (ibex, quoll). Savvy readers will notice that each character’s surname is the opposite of their description, giving the Santa Fe–esque Topsy-Turvy Town a unique cast (“Barbara Boring, the most interesting person you’ve ever met, brought her bats”). Engel’s exquisite illustrations offer a bright display of color and activity. The town’s quirky residents range in age, ethnicity, skin tone, and ability—two characters use wheelchairs—as well as described personality. Endnotes offer discussion questions, including about the wisdom of keeping exotic pets.
A charming, challenging, imaginative alphabet book; will induce giggles.Pub Date: July 14, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-58041-127-1
Page Count: 36
Publisher: ASHA Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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Cookie-cutter predictability.
After all the daring escapes in the How To Catch… series, will the kids be able to catch Santa?
Oddly, previous installments saw the children trying (and failing) to catch an elf and a reindeer, but both are easily captured in this story. Santa, however, is slippery. Tempted but not fooled by poinsettias, a good book (attached to a slingshot armed with a teddy bear projectile), and, of course, milk and cookies, Santa foils every plan. The hero in a red suit has a job to do. Presents must be placed, and lists must be checked. He has no time for traps and foolery (except if you’re the elf, who falls for every one of them). Luckily, Santa helps the little rascal escape each time. Little is new here—the kids resort to similar snares found in previous works: netting, lures, and technological wonders such as the Santa Catcher 5000. Although the rhythm falters quite a bit (“How did we get out you ask? / It looked like we were done for. / Santa’s magic is very real, / and I cannot reveal more”), fans of the series may not mind. Santa and Christmas just might be enough to overcome the flaws. Santa and the elf are light-skinned, one of the children is brown-skinned, and the other presents as Asian. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Cookie-cutter predictability. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781728274270
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Wonderland
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2023
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