Irresistible invitations to engage and interact with words.
Thirty-two easy poems aimed at fledgling readers tickled by “rhyme, rhythm, repetition, and play.”
“I’m ready for spaghetti. / Will you getti the spaghetti? / Don’t say ‘Not yetti spaghetti!’ / I’m all setti for spaghetti.” Dunbar’s watercolors, depicting a racially diverse cast of laughing, active children in pajamas or play clothes, reflect the celebratory tone of Rosen’s breezy miniverses, which are not only suitable for chanting or singing as well as silent reading, but are often structured to make it easy for children to add their own rhymes and embellishments. His subjects range from a run through the ABCs and (at the end, of course) snuggling down into a bedtime hush to stars, snails, and sneezes: “Where’s the sneeze gone? / I’m going to guess: / It started in my nose / And ended in a mess.” The wordplay particularly shines in verses evocatively titled “Long Leggy Eggy” and the unbridled nonsense of “Hip Hap Happy” (“Give me a hip / Give me a hap / Give me a hip hap happy / Give me a tip / Give me a tap / Give me a tip tap tappy”), but the cheery tone remains so steady that even the final sighed “Good night!” comes with an exclamation point. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Irresistible invitations to engage and interact with words. (index) (Picture book poetry. 3-6)Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2497-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
While there are many rhyming truck books out there, this stands out for being a collection of poems.
Rhyming poems introduce children to anthropomorphized trucks of all sorts, as well as the jobs that they do.
Adorable multiethnic children are the drivers of these 16 trucks—from construction equipment to city trucks, rescue vehicles and a semi—easily standing in for readers, a point made very clear on the final spread. Varying rhyme schemes and poem lengths help keep readers’ attention. For the most part, the rhymes and rhythms work, as in this, from “Cement Mixer”: “No time to wait; / he can’t sit still. / He has to beg your pardon. / For if he dawdles on the way, / his slushy load will harden.” Slonim’s trucks each sport an expressive pair of eyes, but the anthropomorphism stops there, at least in the pictures—Vestergaard sometimes takes it too far, as in “Bulldozer”: “He’s not a bully, either, / although he’s big and tough. / He waits his turn, plays well with friends, / and pushes just enough.” A few trucks’ jobs get short shrift, to mixed effect: “Skid-Steer Loader” focuses on how this truck moves without the typical steering wheel, but “Semi” runs with a royalty analogy and fails to truly impart any knowledge. The acrylic-and-charcoal artwork, set against white backgrounds, keeps the focus on the trucks and the jobs they are doing.
While there are many rhyming truck books out there, this stands out for being a collection of poems. (Picture book/poetry. 3-6)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-5078-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
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