Entertaining if a tad pat.
Charming pairs of human and animal characters celebrate their similarities and differences.
Characters might look obviously dissimilar, like the brown-skinned child holding hands with the sharply dressed white dog—but they’re also alike in many ways, like the sand-colored cat and the sandy-haired white kid who both wear the same striped shirt and overalls. Alternating between contrasting pairs on solid-color backgrounds and comparable pairs in full-bleed scenes, cartoon illustrations reminiscent of Richard Scarry’s depict a mixed group of animals and humans exploring their varied identities and experiences with joy. Minimalist rhyme makes for an easy read-aloud and an amusing counterpoint to slapstick antics: “I am gentle. You are rough,” reads the text above a llama in a goofy hat dashing toward the page turn as a dark-haired white child holds onto its reins for dear life. Animal characters often serve as an evasion of responsibility for diverse human representation, but this book takes care to show a range of human skin tones as well as a wheelchair user. The art also offers just enough detail to charm observant readers, from an elephant double-fisting pastries to a bus-stop sign reading “BLEAK ST.” next to two characters standing in the rain. Somewhat oddly, the loose and otherwise nonchronological narrative ends with bedtime, although that does allow for a well-placed vertical turn to show all the animals stacked in a bunk bed.
Entertaining if a tad pat. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1201-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2020
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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Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.
You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!
What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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