Children in urban settings will recognize this city’s feel, while suburban or rural children will be equally happy to join...
The latest addition to Franceschelli and Peskimo's (Dinoblock, 2015, etc.) collection of very thick board books exploits all the possibilities of the format.
The initial foldouts reveal a question—“How will we get around?”—and hint at modes of transportation to come: subway, taxi, bus, ferry, foot, and helicopter. That would be enough for most board books, but the story continues with “What can we do?” and “What should we eat?” before the final 20-inch panorama of the city at night. Along the way, the design team Peskimo varies its retro palette depending on the image. A carousel is bright and lively, while the view from an observatory is more muted. Shades of blue and turquoise on almost every page act as a visual throughline, and die cuts keep young children turning the pages. The story follows a white-haired, spectacled elder (who looks rather like Albert Einstein) and two children—one white, one brown—through a busy day in a diverse city. They visit dinosaurs in a natural history museum, a soccer game, a flea market, and more. That they visit a bookstore instead of a library and shop for souvenirs suggest that perhaps they are tourists. Their day's menu includes common treats: an apple, pizza, nachos, sushi, and ice cream.
Children in urban settings will recognize this city’s feel, while suburban or rural children will be equally happy to join in the adventure. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2189-2
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come.
Little Blue Truck and his pal Toad meet friends old and new on a springtime drive through the country.
This lift-the-flap, interactive entry in the popular Little Blue Truck series lacks the narrative strength and valuable life lessons of the original Little Blue Truck (2008) and its sequel, Little Blue Truck Leads the Way (2009). Both of those books, published for preschoolers rather than toddlers, featured rich storylines, dramatic, kinetic illustrations, and simple but valuable life lessons—the folly of taking oneself too seriously, the importance of friends, and the virtue of taking turns, for example. At about half the length and with half as much text as the aforementioned titles, this volume is a much quicker read. Less a story than a vernal celebration, the book depicts a bucolic drive through farmland and encounters with various animals and their young along the way. Beautifully rendered two-page tableaux teem with butterflies, blossoms, and vibrant pastel, springtime colors. Little Blue greets a sheep standing in the door of a barn: “Yoo-hoo, Sheep! / Beep-beep! / What’s new?” Folding back the durable, card-stock flap reveals the barn’s interior and an adorable set of twin lambs. Encounters with a duck and nine ducklings, a cow with a calf, a pig with 10 (!) piglets, a family of bunnies, and a chicken with a freshly hatched chick provide ample opportunity for counting and vocabulary work.
Uncomplicated fun that sets readers up for the earlier, more-complicated books to come. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-544-93809-0
Page Count: 16
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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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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