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WHO WAS THAT?

Name: WHO WAS THAT?
Author: Olivier Tallec
ISBN: 978-1-4521-6990-3

by Olivier Tallec ; illustrated by Olivier Tallec ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2018

An eye-opener for anyone who thinks that looking and seeing are the same thing.

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Following on Who Done It? (2015) and Who What Where? (2016), more visual tests of powers of observation and memory.

In oblong cartoon scenes, some with die-cut holes, Tallec lines up a cast of children and animals. He then, after a page turn, asks which one had a yellow scarf or what color undies a figure was wearing, who in the new scene wasn’t in the previous one, or another unpredictable question. Even at this elementary level (there are never more than seven figures in view, and usually fewer) grown-ups will have no advantage tackling these challenges, as the author changes the type of thing that must be noted and recalled each time. Thanks to lots of puzzled, pop-eyed expressions in the art and a certain amount of comical folderol—an instruction to tilt the volume to the right sends everyone on the next spread staggering in that direction, some clearly queasy—the game is as playful as it is tricky. Sometimes the details are just as much fun as as the game (if not more so): a lion wearing red rubber boots and a pink dog dangling by its teeth from the outstretched arm of an unperturbed bear will have children giggling. The human children are mostly pale, though one has brown skin and two others, (possibly) inexplicably, have green.

An eye-opener for anyone who thinks that looking and seeing are the same thing. (answer key) (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: March 6, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-4521-6990-3

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
A BETTER BEST FRIEND
by Olivier Tallec ; illustrated by Olivier Tallec ; translated by Antony Shugaar

- BOOK REVIEW
YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE THIS BOOK!
by Jory John ; illustrated by Olivier Tallec

- BOOK REVIEW
DAGFRID, VIKING GIRL
by Agnès Mathieu-Daudé ; translated by Nanette McGuinness ; illustrated by Olivier Tallec

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: June 21, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-06-234834-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
ON THE FIRST DAY OF FIRST GRADE
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Sarah Jennings

- BOOK REVIEW
FIVE LITTLE BUNNIES
by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Dan Yaccarino

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A BIKE LIKE SERGIO'S

by Maribeth Boelts ; illustrated by Noah Z. Jones ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 4, 2016

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on...

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Continuing from their acclaimed Those Shoes (2007), Boelts and Jones entwine conversations on money, motives, and morality.

This second collaboration between author and illustrator is set within an urban multicultural streetscape, where brown-skinned protagonist Ruben wishes for a bike like his friend Sergio’s. He wishes, but Ruben knows too well the pressure his family feels to prioritize the essentials. While Sergio buys a pack of football cards from Sonny’s Grocery, Ruben must buy the bread his mom wants. A familiar lady drops what Ruben believes to be a $1 bill, but picking it up, to his shock, he discovers $100! Is this Ruben’s chance to get himself the bike of his dreams? In a fateful twist, Ruben loses track of the C-note and is sent into a panic. After finally finding it nestled deep in a backpack pocket, he comes to a sense of moral clarity: “I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers—then mine—was gone.” When he returns the bill to her, the lady offers Ruben her blessing, leaving him with double-dipped emotions, “happy and mixed up, full and empty.” Readers will be pleased that there’s no reward for Ruben’s choice of integrity beyond the priceless love and warmth of a family’s care and pride.

Embedded in this heartwarming story of doing the right thing is a deft examination of the pressures of income inequality on children. (Picture book. 5-8)