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OK GO

Name: OK GO
Author: Carin Berger
ISBN: 978-0-06-157666-9

by Carin Berger and illustrated by Carin Berger ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2009

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Berger follows the success of New York Times Best Illustrated Little Yellow Leaf (2008) with a book for little tree-huggers. She fittingly uses recycled materials to create her stylized collages, at first depicting a few cars puffing exhaust against a light-blue background emblazoned with the word: “GO!” As she incorporates more cars into successive illustrations, she shifts the background to darker shades of blue and gray, while repeating “GO!” across the double spreads. This visual commentary on the fast pace of contemporary society and the environmental impact of cars and fossil fuels is powerful in its simplicity and accessibility. After screeching to a “STOP!” the text on the four facing pages of the closing double gatefold shifts from spare to perhaps intertextual in nature: Echoes of Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” resound in the myriad suggestions for slowing down the pace of life and conserving resources: “Use the bus, Gus,” “Recycle, Michael,” and so on, thus bringing the recycling ethic not only to her pictures but to her words as well. (environmental tips, resources) (Picture book. 5-8)

Pub Date: May 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-06-157666-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NIGHT GARDEN
by Carin Berger ; illustrated by Carin Berger

- BOOK REVIEW
A CURIOUS MENAGERIE
by Carin Berger ; illustrated by Carin Berger

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL OF US
by Carin Berger ; illustrated by Carin Berger

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TINY LITTLE ROCKET

by Richard Collingridge ; illustrated by Richard Collingridge ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 31, 2018

A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off.

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This rocket hopes to take its readers on a birthday blast—but there may or may not be enough fuel.

Once a year, a one-seat rocket shoots out from Earth. Why? To reveal a special congratulatory banner for a once-a-year event. The second-person narration puts readers in the pilot’s seat and, through a (mostly) ballad-stanza rhyme scheme (abcb), sends them on a journey toward the sun, past meteors, and into the Kuiper belt. The final pages include additional information on how birthdays are measured against the Earth’s rotations around the sun. Collingridge aims for the stars with this title, and he mostly succeeds. The rhyme scheme flows smoothly, which will make listeners happy, but the illustrations (possibly a combination of paint with digital enhancements) may leave the viewers feeling a little cold. The pilot is seen only with a 1960s-style fishbowl helmet that completely obscures the face, gender, and race by reflecting the interior of the rocket ship. This may allow readers/listeners to picture themselves in the role, but it also may divest them of any emotional connection to the story. The last pages—the backside of a triple-gatefold spread—label the planets and include Pluto. While Pluto is correctly labeled as a dwarf planet, it’s an unusual choice to include it but not the other dwarfs: Ceres, Eris, etc. The illustration also neglects to include the asteroid belt or any of the solar system’s moons.

A fair choice, but it may need some support to really blast off. (Picture book. 6-8)

Pub Date: July 31, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-338-18949-0

Page Count: 32

Publisher: David Fickling/Phoenix/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: April 15, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
LIONHEART
by Richard Collingridge ; illustrated by Richard Collingridge

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VIOLET THE PILOT

by Steve Breen & illustrated by Steve Breen ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2008

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Violet Van Winkle is an inventor with a flair for air. Her father manages a junkyard and while other girls play with dolls and tea sets, Violet is busy tinkering with monkey wrenches and needle-nosed pliers building elaborate contraptions, especially flying machines, like her Bicycopter, Pogo Plane and Wing-a-ma-jig. Kids at school make fun of her, but Violet hopes that if she wins an air-show competition with her special plane, The Hornet, they’ll be nice to her. On show day, she carefully calculates her flying time but diverts from her course to rescue a troop of Boy Scouts who have fallen into a river and drops them (literally) at the hospital. Sadly, her heroism makes her too late to enter the air show but her misery evaporates when the mayor presents her with a medal of valor. The comical cover is a grabber: Violet is piloting a homemade plane wearing a helmet and goggles and blowing bubble gum with Orville, her dog’s ears streaming in the wind like her scarf. The cartoon illustrations of watercolor, acrylic and pencil soar with inventive details and angles, e.g. close-up of Violet’s face in midair with bugs on her teeth. (Picture book. 5-8)