MY SPANISH TOUCH-AND-FEEL BOOK OF COLORS

bookshelf

MY SPANISH TOUCH-AND-FEEL BOOK OF COLORS

Name: MY SPANISH TOUCH-AND-FEEL BOOK OF COLORS
Author: Rebecca Emberley
ISBN: 978-0-316-07404-9

by Rebecca Emberley & illustrated by Rebecca Emberley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2009

bookshelf

Against white backgrounds, objects of the same color are grouped, spread by spread. Red/rojo features las fresas (strawberries), los corazones (hearts, in this case the Valentine’s Day variety) and las mariquitas (ladybugs), as well as a couple of items that are not sui generis red, el auto (car) and los guantes (gloves, or, as pictured here but not glossed as such, mittens). Los guantes are also fuzzy; each spread includes one tactile element, including a shiny, ridged fish (el pez), roughly sparkly stars (las estrellas) and the smooth belly of a frog (la rana). The busy-ness of the layout steers this title to a slightly older audience than the author’s elegantly simple My Colors/Mis Colores (2000), but it has the virtue of a larger vocabulary. Buy as an adjunct to, not a replacement for, the earlier title. (Ages 1-3)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-316-07404-9

Page Count: 12

Publisher: LB Kids/Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2009

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
SPARE PARTS
by Rebecca Emberley ; illustrated by Ed Emberley

- BOOK REVIEW
FLATLAND
by David Sayre ; illustrated by Rebecca Emberley

- BOOK REVIEW
THE ITSY BITSY SPIDER
illustrated by Rebecca Emberley ; Ed Emberley ; developed by Little Bahalia Publishing

bookshelf

SMILE, POUT-POUT FISH

by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 7, 2014

An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to.

bookshelf

This simplified version of Diesen and Hanna’s The Pout-Pout Fish (2008) is appropriate for babies and toddlers.

Brief, rhyming text tells the story of a sullen fish cheered up with a kiss. A little pink sea creature pokes his head out of a hole in the sea bottom to give the gloomy fish some advice: “Smile, Mr. Fish! / You look so down // With your glum-glum face / And your pout-pout frown.” He explains that there’s no reason to be worried, scared, sad or mad and concludes: “How about a smooch? / And a cheer-up wish? // Now you look happy: / What a smile, Mr. Fish!” Simple and sweet, this tale offers the lesson that sometimes, all that’s needed for a turnaround in mood is some cheer and encouragement to change our perspective. The clean, uncluttered illustrations are kept simple, except for the pout-pout fish’s features, which are delightfully expressive. Little ones will easily recognize and likely try to copy the sad, scared and angry looks that cross the fish’s face.

An upbeat early book on feelings with a simple storyline that little ones will respond to. (Board book. 1-3)

Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014

ISBN: 978-0-374-37084-8

Page Count: 12

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WORRY-WORRY WHALE AND THE CLASSROOM JITTERS
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

- BOOK REVIEW
POUT-POUT FISH
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

- BOOK REVIEW
THE POUT-POUT FISH AND THE MAD, MAD DAY
by Deborah Diesen ; illustrated by Dan Hanna

bookshelf

ALL ABOUT ME

From the Look & Learn series

by National Geographic ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 11, 2014

Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on...

bookshelf

An exploration of the human body through colorful photos.

Every other double-page spread labels the individual parts on one major area: head, torso, back, arm and leg. Ethnically diverse boy-girl pairs serve as models as arrows point to specific features and captions float nearby. While the book usefully mentions rarely depicted body parts, such as eyebrow, armpit and shin, some of the directional arrows are unclear. The arrow pointing at a girl’s shoulder hits her in the upper arm, and the belly button is hard is distinguish from the stomach (both are concealed by shirts). Facts about the human body (“Guess what? You have tiny hairs in your nose that keep out dirt”) appear on alternating spreads along with photos of kids in action. Baby Animals, another title in the Look & Learn series, uses an identical format to introduce readers to seal pups, leopard cubs, elephant calves, ducklings and tadpoles. In both titles, the final spread offers a review of the information and encourages readers to match baby animals to their parents or find body parts on a photo of kids jumping on a trampoline.

Clear nonfiction for the very young is hard to come by, and it appears that the Look & Learn series may finally be on the right track despite earlier titles that were much too conceptual for the audience. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)