Though this lacks the originality and fizz of How Rocket Learned to Read (2010), it nevertheless reinforces the pup’s...
Adorable Rocket the dog and his many pals (including a moonlighting Goose) return in a new story centered on the alphabet.
Each alphabetic scene illustrates action in a complete sentence or two that emphasizes alliteration. The key letter in each scenario is represented in boldface type, and many sentences include both upper- and lowercase examples. It begins: “Rocket finds acorns. Owl draws an angry alligator. / Bella balances on a ball while a big blue butterfly watches.” Some letter choices work better than others. Q is fairly successful: “It is quiet, and Owl is cozy under her quilt. She falls asleep quickly.” On the other hand, Hills defaults to the old chestnut for tricky X: “Bella plays the xylophone.” Overall, this is charming fun, and readers have come to know and love Hills’ oil-and–colored-pencil characters. While each individual scene is entertaining, however, and many incorporate multiple letters, there is no apparent unifying storyline that takes readers from A to Z. One tiny nit is that owls don’t sleep lying down, as depicted, but that doesn’t take away from the enjoyment. The back of the jacket cover is an attractive alphabet chart.
Though this lacks the originality and fizz of How Rocket Learned to Read (2010), it nevertheless reinforces the pup’s positive literacy efforts. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: July 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-553-52228-0
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade/Random
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
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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