An affecting look at positive self-worth.
In Landgraf’s picture book, an anthropomorphic pea visits a school and wins friends in a rhyming tale of believing in yourself.
One fall day, Rollie the pea and his siblings are up to their normal chaotic antics when Rollie encounters a human. Frightened, Rollie tries to hide, and warns the others to do the same. But the young boy, Jack, who has fair skin and brown hair, calls out that he only wants to be friends. In fact, Jack would like to take Rollie to school: “Show-and-tell’s coming up early next week. / My friends will all think he’s so cool and unique.” Rollie’s intrigued, but he’s worried no one will like him because he’s different. Jack, who has been bullied, convinces Rollie that a true friend likes you for who you really are. The pep talk succeeds: Rollie gives school a try and makes a big hit. The combination of the pea-people and human children is initially hard to swallow, but the illustrator, Valenti, manages it well, especially when showing that Jack’s classroom is full of all sorts of other children who don’t look the same. The bright hues and cartoon shapes give the book plenty of kid-appeal, especially when accompanied by Landgraf’s smooth, consistent rhymes. Jack’s instant empathy with anxious Rollie, and his advice, earned from hard experience, are touching.
An affecting look at positive self-worth.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 979-8-9869905-0-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Rad Plaid Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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