This detailed book will be best enjoyed one-on-one by engaged adult-baby duos.
Vibrant color, diverse people, and assorted sounds welcome infants and toddlers to the metropolis.
Each of the five double-page spreads in this short book contains one sentence of spare text introducing the action (“Traffic zooms by”; “People shop and eat”). People presented are of various skin colors and hair colors and of a variety of ages, from kids to gray-haired older adults, and there is one woman in a hijab. She’s riding a bus, but young readers will also see women as a firefighter, a police officer, a bus driver, and as construction workers. Cartoonish illustrations are colorful, vivid, and detailed. Cats, dogs, and birds appear on most pages, and such onomatopoeic words as “chomp,” “swoosh,” “clank,” and “rustle” are written next to the person or thing making that sound. There are many interesting details to point out, identify, and talk about with a lap-sitting infant or toddler in the different locations of the city shown, including a residential neighborhood, a construction site, and a city park. The Indestructibles are not printed on board pages but on thin, flexible pages that are “chew proof, rip proof, non-toxic and 100% washable.” Co-publishing titles include Hello Farm! and My Neighborhood; the two are very similar to Busy City in illustration and text, but they do not include onomatopoeia, which seems a missed opportunity. Furthermore, My Neighborhood presents single-page scenes, making for busy and confusing spreads.
This detailed book will be best enjoyed one-on-one by engaged adult-baby duos. (Baby book. 6 mos.-2)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5235-0468-8
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
Broccoli: No way is James going to eat broccoli. “It’s disgusting,” says James. Well then, James, says his father, let’s consider the alternatives: some wormy dirt, perhaps, some stinky socks, some pre-chewed gum? James reconsiders the broccoli, but—milk? “Blech,” says James. Right, says his father, who needs strong bones? You’ll be great at hide-and-seek, though not so great at baseball and kickball and even tickling the dog’s belly. James takes a mouthful. So it goes through lumpy oatmeal, mushroom lasagna and slimy eggs, with James’ father parrying his son’s every picky thrust. And it is fun, because the father’s retorts are so outlandish: the lasagna-making troll in the basement who will be sent back to the rat circus, there to endure the rodent’s vicious bites; the uneaten oatmeal that will grow and grow and probably devour the dog that the boy won’t be able to tickle any longer since his bones are so rubbery. Schneider’s watercolors catch the mood of gentle ribbing, the looks of bewilderment and surrender and the deadpanned malarkey. It all makes James’ father’s last urging—“I was just going to say that you might like them if you tried them”—wholly fresh and unexpected advice. (Early reader. 5-9)
Pub Date: May 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-547-14956-1
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A nice but not requisite purchase.
A retelling of the classic fairy tale in board-book format and with a Mexican setting.
Though simplified for a younger audience, the text still relates the well-known tale: mean-spirited stepmother, spoiled stepsisters, overworked Cinderella, fairy godmother, glass slipper, charming prince, and, of course, happily-ever-after. What gives this book its flavor is the artwork. Within its Mexican setting, the characters are olive-skinned and dark-haired. Cultural references abound, as when a messenger comes carrying a banner announcing a “FIESTA” in beautiful papel picado. Cinderella is the picture of beauty, with her hair up in ribbons and flowers and her typically Mexican many-layered white dress. The companion volume, Snow White, set in Japan and illustrated by Misa Saburi, follows the same format. The simplified text tells the story of the beautiful princess sent to the forest by her wicked stepmother to be “done away with,” the dwarves that take her in, and, eventually, the happily-ever-after ending. Here too, what gives the book its flavor is the artwork. The characters wear traditional clothing, and the dwarves’ house has the requisite shoji screens, tatami mats and cherry blossoms in the garden. The puzzling question is, why the board-book presentation? Though the text is simplified, it’s still beyond the board-book audience, and the illustrations deserve full-size books.
A nice but not requisite purchase. (Board book/fairy tale. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-7915-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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