Kennedy’s deceptively facile verse amuses as it places under scrutiny a herd of elephants engaged in summer and winter Olympic sports. Runner Trinket wins sprinting by a nose, and gymnast Trixie, her ankle carefully bound up, handles backflips on the beam. Elfantina’s figure skating and Elmo’s ski-jumping capture the eye and the heart. The remarkable watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations communicate the particular geometric form of every sport—the crescent-moon curve of Elijah’s dive; the T-shape of Elfantina on ice; the whoosh of Tram in slalom—without sacrificing the elephantine personalities. The poetry cheerfully renders some specifics on sports, too: Eliza and Lenore are the volley “ball-wackers!” while Tram defines slalom as “all I did was go downhill/Not hitting anything.” The observations are immediate and funny. (Picture book/poetry. 4-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-399-23249-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Baker (Big Fat Hen, 1994, etc.) engages in more number play, posing ducklings in every combination of groups, e.g., “Splashing as they leap and dive/7 ducklings, 2 plus 5.” Using a great array of streaked and dappled papers, Baker creates a series of leafy collage scenes for the noisy, exuberant ducklings to fill, tucking in an occasional ladybug or other small creature for sharp-eyed pre-readers to spot. Children will regretfully wave goodbye as the ducks fly off in neat formation at the end of this brief, painless introduction to several basic math concepts. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-292858-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
Big Brown Bear, with a natty bowler hat, is all set to paint the house in this cheerful Level 1 reader. Every page presents a full-color scene and a few words of easily predicted, often rhyming text: “Bear is big. Bear is brown. Bear goes up. He comes down.” Big Bear climbs a ladder with a pail of blue paint, while nearby, Little Bear plays with a ball and bat—“Oh no! Little Bear! Do not do that!” These are simple words, but sometimes challenging ones, e.g., there are two uses of up, as in climbing the ladder and washing up. The pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations provide nearly ideal context, while also amplifying the story. The format is attractive and practical, featuring large type on a white background that is placed for easy reading. Beginning readers will be amused by the gentle humor in the book, and feel accomplished to have tackled it themselves. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201999-5
Page Count: 20
Publisher: Green Light/Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
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