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ROLL, ROLL, LITTLE PEA

Name: ROLL, ROLL, LITTLE PEA
Author: Cécile Bergame
ISBN: 9781636550442

by Cécile Bergame ; illustrated by Magali Attiogbé ; translated by Angus Yuen-Killick ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 2023

A sneaky plant life-cycle story for the youngest set.

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In this French import, a pea escapes a bowl and starts an adventure.

While a girl is shelling peas, one accidentally drops to the floor and rolls away. The tiny green sphere then becomes a possibility for lunch for many different animals. As the pea rolls through the house and out the door, a mouse looks at it hungrily, a cat wants to “CRUNCH” it, and a rabbit wishes to “NIBBLE” it. Bolded action words that describe how each animal would consume the pea highlight new vocabulary. Propelled by a baffling momentum, the pea rolls down a path, through some mud (where a pig wants to “MUNCH” it), and into a forest. It is finally swallowed by a hole in the ground. The next harvest season, a new shoot appears, and high atop a tendril, the girl is reunited with the pea. The repeated refrain “ROLL, ROLL, LITTLE PEA” makes the tale roll along as merrily as the little pea itself. Bold graphic designs with thick accent lines are visually arresting. The girl, seen only on the first and last pages, has dark skin. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A sneaky plant life-cycle story for the youngest set. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: June 20, 2023

ISBN: 9781636550442

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Red Comet Press

Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

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HAPPY EASTER FROM THE CRAYONS

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 2023

Let these crayons go back into their box.

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The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.

Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023

ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Philomel

Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

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LITTLE FREDDIE TWO PANTS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins

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HAPPY FATHER'S DAY FROM THE CRAYONS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

- BOOK REVIEW
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY FROM THE CRAYONS
by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

- SEEN & HEARD
Daywalt, Jeffers Collaborate on New ‘Crayons’ Book

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Daywalt, Jeffers Collaborate on New ‘Crayons’ Book

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.

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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)