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TINY TOWN

Name: TINY TOWN
Author: Suzy Ultman
ISBN: 978-1-4521-5157-1

by Suzy Ultman ; illustrated by Suzy Ultman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2017

Eyestrain-inducing.

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A hip kid gives readers a tour of the titular, diminutive town.

Each double-page spread represents a different “Tiny” location, including a bakery, a pet store, a bookstore, and a floral shop. The tour guide appears on every page and has a strange grayish-tan complexion. A die-cut window appears on every page and gives readers a glimpse of what is to come. While Ultman’s graphic style, which employs pastel colors and whimsical lines, can be clever, much of the art will be too small for both toddler and adult eyes to fully appreciate. Captions are teeny, and the objects themselves, such as the pink mustache the tour guide dons in the dress-up section at the toy store or the key to this resident’s “Tiny Home,” are so small as to make them difficult to classify. Other things and animals are so stylized they challenge identification: the toy-store blocks look like dollhouses, and many of the foods in the grocery store will be a stretch for toddlers to name. In the companion book, Tiny Farm, a youngster with white skin, bobbed black hair, and a yellow dress shows readers such tiny farm locales such as the horse stall, the pigpen, and the “Tiny You-Pick Patch.” While the board pages are substantially thick, the thinnish binding may prove to be what shortens the life spans of both titles.

Eyestrain-inducing. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-4521-5157-1

Page Count: 16

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

- BOOK REVIEW
LOVE CAN COME IN MANY WAYS
by Terry Pierce ; illustrated by Suzy Ultman

- BOOK REVIEW
MASHA AND HER FRIENDS
by Suzy Ultman ; illustrated by Suzy Ultman

- BOOK REVIEW
A TO Z MENAGERIE
by Suzy Ultman ; illustrated by Suzy Ultman

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IN THE WIND

by Elizabeth Spurr ; illustrated by Manelle Oliphant ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2016

A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name.

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A brief rhyming board book for toddlers.

Spurr's earlier board books (In the Garden and At the Beach, both 2012; In the Woods, 2013) featured an adventuresome little boy. Her new slice-of-life story stars an equally joyful little girl who takes pleasure in flying a new kite while not venturing far off the walkway. Oliphant's expressive and light-filled watercolors clearly depict the child's emotions—eager excitement on the way to the park, delight at the kite's flight in the wind, shock when the kite breaks free, dejection, and finally relief and amazement. The rhymes work, though uneven syllable counts in some stanzas interrupt the smooth flow of the verse. The illustrations depict the child with her mass of windblown curls, brown skin, and pronounced facial features as African-American. Her guardian (presumably her mother) is also brown-skinned. It is refreshing to see an African-American family settled comfortably in a suburban setting with single-family homes and a park where the family dog does not need to be leashed.

A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: March 1, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-56145-854-7

Page Count: 22

Publisher: Peachtree

Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

- BOOK REVIEW
IN THE RAIN
by Elizabeth Spurr ; illustrated by Manelle Oliphant

- BOOK REVIEW
IN THE SNOW
by Elizabeth Spurr ; illustrated by Manelle Oliphant

- BOOK REVIEW
AT THE BEACH
by Elizabeth Spurr ; illustrated by Manelle Oliphant

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GOODNIGHT, NUMBERS

by Danica McKellar ; illustrated by Alicia Padrón ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 7, 2017

The joys of counting combine with pretty art and homage to Goodnight Moon.

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This bedtime book offers simple rhymes, celebrates the numbers one through 10, and encourages the counting of objects.

Each double-page spread shows a different toddler-and-caregiver pair, with careful attention to different skin tones, hair types, genders, and eye shapes. The pastel palette and soft, rounded contours of people and things add to the sleepy litany of the poems, beginning with “Goodnight, one fork. / Goodnight, one spoon. / Goodnight, one bowl. / I’ll see you soon.” With each number comes a different part in a toddler’s evening routine, including dinner, putting away toys, bathtime, and a bedtime story. The white backgrounds of the pages help to emphasize the bold representations of the numbers in both written and numerical forms. Each spread gives multiple opportunities to practice counting to its particular number; for example, the page for “four” includes four bottles of shampoo and four inlaid dots on a stool—beyond the four objects mentioned in the accompanying rhyme. Each home’s décor, and the array and types of toys and accoutrements within, shows a decidedly upscale, Western milieu. This seems compatible with the patronizing author’s note to adults, which accuses “the media” of indoctrinating children with fear of math “in our country.” Regardless, this sweet treatment of numbers and counting may be good prophylaxis against math phobia.

The joys of counting combine with pretty art and homage to Goodnight Moon. (Picture book. 2-4)