A little scratchboard, a little watercolor, and voilà! The prettiest nondenominational winter book seen in ages.
It’s a counting book. It’s a winter animal book. It’s a just plain beautiful book!
“One red fox walks / across the white snow / quietly / stalking winter.” Meanwhile, the fox looks boldly at readers, a single paw raised. Though weather and color palettes may change from page to page as the book counts to 12, the one thing that remains the same is the sense of awe readers will feel while observing these animals in their native Alaskan environments. Each animal’s relationship to the season is described in evocative verse, whether they’re “talking winter” or “tracking,” “riding,” “hiding,” “facing,” “racing,” “naming,” “taming,” “feeding,” or “meeting” it. The final animals on display—human kids of various skin tones—slip and slide on ice that’s rapidly melting as spring arrives. With lines such as “Four red squirrels feast / at their midden full of cones / hungrily / cracking winter,” Carlstrom’s writing deftly sets this title apart from other counting books. Meanwhile, McGehee’s art conjures up both the silly side of nature and its incredible dignity and variety. Backmatter consists of animal profiles, with fun facts about each one pictured. In her author’s note, Carlstrom reminisces about observing wildlife while living in Alaska; in an illustrator’s note, McGehee discusses researching the animals she drew.
A little scratchboard, a little watercolor, and voilà! The prettiest nondenominational winter book seen in ages. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9780802855701
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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