bookshelf

IF THE S IN MOOSE COMES LOOSE

Name: IF THE S IN MOOSE COMES LOOSE
Author: Peter Hermann
ISBN: 978-0-06-229510-1

by Peter Hermann ; illustrated by Matthew Cordell ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 13, 2018

Little listeners and beginning readers alike will enjoy the rhyme and wordplay

bookshelf

Alphabet mayhem ensues when a cow frantically tries to reattach the last two letters in “moose.”

COW has only a “gloomy MOO” and is “all alone without her MOOSE, / whose E broke free and whose S came loose.” Like any good preschooler, she goes for the GLUE but does not have any of those letters either. She embarks on a wild adventure, borrowing letters (with a bit of larceny thrown in) from a GOAT and a BEAR on a chair. She assembles them in various combinations, to make a BOAT, an EAR, a CAKE, and a LAKE. The letters are rendered as large, three-dimensional capitals, interacting with what they denote in rib-tickling juxtaposition. A bear snoozing in a chair atop the words BEAR CHAIR becomes an ear relaxing in that chair, which now balances on EAR CHAIR. Only angry BULL fails to join in the game, refusing to give up his U. Following the crash of a CART, ART featuring a cart hangs in a museum, but finally Cow has the G, L, U, and E for her GLUE. One more task remains: rounding up the missing S and E to regain her best friend. All ends happily. Hermann’s fast-paced romp will likely leave readers laughing and spelling along. Cordell’s illustrations, rendered in pen and ink and watercolor, match the kinetic pace of the tale. His animals are loosely drawn and delightfully expressive.

Little listeners and beginning readers alike will enjoy the rhyme and wordplay . (Picture book. 4-7)

Pub Date: March 13, 2018

ISBN: 978-0-06-229510-1

Page Count: 48

Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

bookshelf

LOVE FROM THE CRAYONS

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 24, 2019

As ephemeral as a valentine.

bookshelf

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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

- BOOK REVIEW
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY FROM THE CRAYONS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

- BOOK REVIEW
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY FROM THE CRAYONS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

- BOOK REVIEW
THE CRAYONS GIVE THANKS
by Drew Daywalt & illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

- SEEN & HEARD
Daywalt, Jeffers Collaborate on New ‘Crayons’ Book

- SEEN & HEARD
Daywalt, Jeffers Collaborate on New ‘Crayons’ Book

bookshelf

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...

bookshelf

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)