Strikingly illustrated and pleasingly subtle, these books will grow with their readers provided they aren’t destroyed in the...
The Japanese author/illustrator of Everyone Poops returns with a quartet of gerunds.
Four books combine their powers to make the Growing Together box set: Growing, Imagining, Sharing, and Exploring. All four are illustrated with Gomi’s near-iconic, stylized Asian people set against stark white backgrounds (except Exploring, which features the origami-paper–colored backdrops found in Everyone Poops). Sharing centers on two sisters who joyfully share everything, though sometimes it takes a bit of imagination. Imagining features a young girl imagining her mother in successively younger stages of life till she looks “just like me!” Growing presents an older brother telling his younger brother about all the things he did when he was younger, including sleeping, crying, and falling down. Exploring features a young boy driving, scootering, boating, and so on with his father. All four books are as graphically straightforward as Gomi’s previous work, though none will likely have the sticking power of Everyone Poops. Like Imagining, Growing and Exploring display a subtle, visual narrative arc . The former depicts the narrator’s growth from infancy to preschool age, and the latter gives the narrator and his father increasingly complex forms of transportation, ending with a rocket ship. Since the simplicity of the text and illustrations lends itself well to very young readers, it’s a shame these books feature paper pages rather than board ones.
Strikingly illustrated and pleasingly subtle, these books will grow with their readers provided they aren’t destroyed in the first few readings . (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: April 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7148-7141-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Phaidon
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.
You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!
What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
A good choice for caregivers looking for a positive, uncomplicated introduction to a new baby that focuses on everything an...
A little boy exults in his new role as big brother.
Rhyming text describes the arrival of a new baby and all of the big brother’s rewarding new duties. He gets to help with feedings, diaper changes, playtime, bathtime, and naptime. Though the rhyming couplets can sometimes feel a bit forced and awkward, the sentiment is sweet, as the focus here never veers from the excitement and love a little boy feels for his tiny new sibling. The charming, uncluttered illustrations convincingly depict the growing bond between this fair-skinned, rosy-cheeked, smiling pair of boys. In the final pages, the parents, heretofore kept mostly out of view, are pictured holding the children. The accompanying text reads: “Mommy, Daddy, baby, me. / We love each other—a family!” In companion volume I Am a Big Sister, the little boy is replaced with a little girl with bows in her hair. Some of the colors and patterns in the illustrations are slightly altered, but it is essentially the same title.
A good choice for caregivers looking for a positive, uncomplicated introduction to a new baby that focuses on everything an older sibling can do to help. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-68886-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
