Devotees of the Alice books will be transported to Wonderland with this fine first taste of key characters in Carroll’s...
They’re all here…Alice, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar (sans hookah), the Mad Hatter, The Queen of Hearts, even the sleepy dormouse!
This board book abecedary brings together characters based on Carroll’s famous story along with Tenniel’s classic illustrations, here reproduced in bright colors, giving preschoolers an interesting new twist on the alphabet. Each uppercase letter is paired with a corresponding word and an illustration, mostly one per page. Many of the illustrations may be familiar to Alice enthusiasts; supplemental pictures and decorative motifs in Tenniel’s style are used to fill in the gaps in the alphabet. For “I is for Invitation,” a note on pink paper, decorated with roses and a large, crowned heart, reads “Please come to tea, from Mad Hatter.” Some letters stretch harder than others. “V is for Vanish” shows a picture of a fading Cheshire Cat in a tree, which will be quite opaque to most board-book readers. Publishing simultaneously, White Rabbit: A Counting Book takes readers from one to 10, including two tasty treats for Alice to try, five grins from the Cheshire Cat, and eight flamingos for a game of croquet. Toddlers and preschoolers may not really understand these two introductions to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but older Alice fans will be delighted to share their enthusiasm for Carroll’s classics through these novelty board books.
Devotees of the Alice books will be transported to Wonderland with this fine first taste of key characters in Carroll’s iconic stories. (Board book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5098-2054-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
A succession of animal dads do their best to teach their young to say “Dada” in this picture-book vehicle for Fallon.
A grumpy bull says, “DADA!”; his calf moos back. A sad-looking ram insists, “DADA!”; his lamb baas back. A duck, a bee, a dog, a rabbit, a cat, a mouse, a donkey, a pig, a frog, a rooster, and a horse all fail similarly, spread by spread. A final two-spread sequence finds all of the animals arrayed across the pages, dads on the verso and children on the recto. All the text prior to this point has been either iterations of “Dada” or animal sounds in dialogue bubbles; here, narrative text states, “Now everybody get in line, let’s say it together one more time….” Upon the turn of the page, the animal dads gaze round-eyed as their young across the gutter all cry, “DADA!” (except the duckling, who says, “quack”). Ordóñez's illustrations have a bland, digital look, compositions hardly varying with the characters, although the pastel-colored backgrounds change. The punch line fails from a design standpoint, as the sudden, single-bubble chorus of “DADA” appears to be emanating from background features rather than the baby animals’ mouths (only some of which, on close inspection, appear to be open). It also fails to be funny.
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Nothing riveting but serviceable enough.
Children are introduced to the concepts of sorting and classifying in this bedtime story.
It is getting close to bedtime, and Marco’s mother asks him to put his toys away. Marco—who thinks of himself as a scientist—corrects her: “You mean time to sort the animals.” And that’s what he proceeds to do. Marco sorts his animals into three baskets labeled “Flying Animals,” “Swimming Animals,” and “Animals That Move on Land,” but the animals will not sleep. So he sorts them by color: “Mostly Brown,” “Black and White,” and “Colors of the Rainbow,” but Zebra is upset to be separated from Giraffe. Next, Marco sorts his animals by size: “Small,” “Medium,” and “Large,” but the big animals are cramped and the small ones feel cold. Finally, Marco ranges them around his bed from biggest to smallest, thus providing them with space to move and helping them to feel safe. Everyone satisfied, they all go to sleep. While the plot is flimsy, the general idea that organizing and classifying can be accomplished in many different ways is clear. Young children are also presented with the concept that different classifications can lead to different results. The illustrations, while static, keep the focus clearly on the sorting taking place. Marco and his mother have brown skin. The backmatter includes an explanation of sorting in science and ideas for further activities.
Nothing riveting but serviceable enough. (Math picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62354-128-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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