Straightforward illustrations, a spirited refrain, and engaging number play add up to a delightful read.
A duck family encounters a surprise detour as they attempt to cross a bridge.
One by one, Mother Duck and her five little ducklings come into view. As they waddle across the bridge, a gust of wind blows one duckling off and into the river below. Mother Duck exclaims, “What should I do? / Where should I go, / with four on the bridge / and one below?” The remaining ducklings follow in turn, and each time Mother Duck wonders how to respond, changing the numbers as appropriate. As each duck initially appears and when it moves from the bridge to the river, the number words are emphasized in orange print that stands out against white backgrounds and the otherwise black type. The combination of the visual and written elements depicting the ongoing addition and subtraction as the ducks change location makes for a powerful representation of these beginning numerical concepts. The repeated rhyming phrases encourage interactive reading and predicting what might happen next. Prolific children’s author Fox has teamed up yet again with illustrator Horacek on this work, her collaborator on the effervescent Where Is the Green Sheep? (2004) and several other titles. The illustrations are deceptively simple, presenting the action of the story exactly as written with the use of bold lines, minimal colors, and ample negative space.
Straightforward illustrations, a spirited refrain, and engaging number play add up to a delightful read. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-338-18566-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies.
Pigeon finds something better to drive than some old bus.
This time it’s Santa delivering the fateful titular words, and with a “Ho. Ho. Whoa!” the badgering begins: “C’mon! Where’s your holiday spirit? It would be a Christmas MIRACLE! Don’t you want to be part of a Christmas miracle…?” Pigeon is determined: “I can do Santa stuff!” Like wrapping gifts (though the accompanying illustration shows a rather untidy present), delivering them (the image of Pigeon attempting to get an oversize sack down a chimney will have little ones giggling), and eating plenty of cookies. Alas, as Willems’ legion of young fans will gleefully predict, not even Pigeon’s by-now well-honed persuasive powers (“I CAN BE JOLLY!”) will budge the sleigh’s large and stinky reindeer guardian. “BAH. Also humbug.” In the typically minimalist art, the frustrated feathered one sports a floppily expressive green and red elf hat for this seasonal addition to the series—but then discards it at the end for, uh oh, a pair of bunny ears. What could Pigeon have in mind now? “Egg delivery, anyone?”
A stocking stuffer par excellence, just right for dishing up with milk and cookies. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781454952770
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Union Square Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2023
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