May prompt some treasure-seeking on the parts of readers, as well.
On a series of walks with his grandmother, Toshi collects small treasures.
This interactive book celebrates a favorite childhood activity. Toshi’s understanding grandmother gives him a red backpack to store his finds, and off they go: to a nearby riverbank, into town, the forest, the countryside, the park, and the beach. After each double-page spread that shows them exploring each destination and labels some of Toshi’s finds in context, there’s a page of Toshi’s treasures, identified, and a puzzle page of numbered and connected images. Answers, and a bit of further information, are in the back of the book. Toshi’s discoveries may be man-made (a bottle cap, a coin) or natural (an empty snail shell, a feather). Aki’s illustrations have the appearance of swift ink-and-watercolor sketches. With a few surprising exceptions (a crab’s carapace is identified as a horseshoe crab’s, and one picture of a gannet misplaces its yellow markings, among others), they’re recognizable and reasonably accurate. Plastic dinosaurs and soda-can tabs can be found anywhere in this country, but the flora and fauna are more limited to the northeastern states and eastern Canada. (This title was originally published in French, in Quebec.) At the end, Toshi’s grandmother (sadly, the illustrator emphasizes her wrinkles rather than her warmth) identifies some of the animals they saw on their trips. Readers can go back and find them in the various spreads.
May prompt some treasure-seeking on the parts of readers, as well. (Informational picture/puzzle book. 4-10)Pub Date: April 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-77138-573-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity.
A collection of parental wishes for a child.
It starts out simply enough: two children run pell-mell across an open field, one holding a high-flying kite with the line “I wish you more ups than downs.” But on subsequent pages, some of the analogous concepts are confusing or ambiguous. The line “I wish you more tippy-toes than deep” accompanies a picture of a boy happily swimming in a pool. His feet are visible, but it's not clear whether he's floating in the deep end or standing in the shallow. Then there's a picture of a boy on a beach, his pockets bulging with driftwood and colorful shells, looking frustrated that his pockets won't hold the rest of his beachcombing treasures, which lie tantalizingly before him on the sand. The line reads: “I wish you more treasures than pockets.” Most children will feel the better wish would be that he had just the right amount of pockets for his treasures. Some of the wordplay, such as “more can than knot” and “more pause than fast-forward,” will tickle older readers with their accompanying, comical illustrations. The beautifully simple pictures are a sweet, kid- and parent-appealing blend of comic-strip style and fine art; the cast of children depicted is commendably multiethnic.
Although the love comes shining through, the text often confuses in straining for patterned simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: April 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4521-2699-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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