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RAINY DAYS

From the Weather Days series , Vol. 4

Rainy days bring all sorts of pleasures; reading this book is just one of them.

Rain, rain, don’t go away!

Anyone seeking a refreshing spin on rainy-day books will find it here. This delightful picture book is awash in treats for readers’/listeners’ ears and eyes, with bouncy, lively, rhythmic verses that make clever use of assonance and consonance, featuring, as examples of the latter, many apt, satisfying S sounds, so readers/listeners can “hear” soft, shushing sounds of raindrops pattering on various surfaces. The artwork suits the book’s message, with pages splashed with lovely, lively, textured illustrations created with paper collage, textiles, and embroidery silk. In addition, this charmer will help develop vocabulary, as rain is described in different ways, e.g., drizzling, freezing, drumming, misty, and sprinkling. The book also points out how rain affects nature—by forming puddles, mud, and streams; arousing snails and worms; watering trees and flowers; and “paint[ing] a work of art” in the sky. Grown-ups sharing this book with children will do well to encourage them to suggest other descriptive terms for rain and the natural changes it can bring about. Rainy days are shown in a variety of settings; characters, all of them children decked out in brightly hued raingear and actively engaging in numerous rainy-day activities (save for the few portrayed indoors), are racially diverse. Endpapers feature assorted vibrantly colored umbrellas. The last page includes several rain- and water-themed experiments and activities. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Rainy days bring all sorts of pleasures; reading this book is just one of them. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: May 17, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-77278-246-2

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Pajama Press

Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

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

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DIGGER, DOZER, DUMPER

While there are many rhyming truck books out there, this stands out for being a collection of poems.

Rhyming poems introduce children to anthropomorphized trucks of all sorts, as well as the jobs that they do.

Adorable multiethnic children are the drivers of these 16 trucks—from construction equipment to city trucks, rescue vehicles and a semi—easily standing in for readers, a point made very clear on the final spread. Varying rhyme schemes and poem lengths help keep readers’ attention. For the most part, the rhymes and rhythms work, as in this, from “Cement Mixer”: “No time to wait; / he can’t sit still. / He has to beg your pardon. / For if he dawdles on the way, / his slushy load will harden.” Slonim’s trucks each sport an expressive pair of eyes, but the anthropomorphism stops there, at least in the pictures—Vestergaard sometimes takes it too far, as in “Bulldozer”: “He’s not a bully, either, / although he’s big and tough. / He waits his turn, plays well with friends, / and pushes just enough.” A few trucks’ jobs get short shrift, to mixed effect: “Skid-Steer Loader” focuses on how this truck moves without the typical steering wheel, but “Semi” runs with a royalty analogy and fails to truly impart any knowledge. The acrylic-and-charcoal artwork, set against white backgrounds, keeps the focus on the trucks and the jobs they are doing.

While there are many rhyming truck books out there, this stands out for being a collection of poems. (Picture book/poetry. 3-6)

Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013

ISBN: 978-0-7636-5078-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Candlewick

Review Posted Online: May 28, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013

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