Give this race the red flag.
A brown dog uses all sorts of fantastical vehicles to chase a pink cat through an interactive board book.
A blue mouse and a whistle-wielding parrot in a striped shirt also share each spread. On the first and last pages, additional cartoon critters cheer them on. The competition starts as a footrace before moving to cars, boats, a train, planes, and spaceships. Angry facial expressions clearly show the dog’s irritation with the cat’s consistent lead while also inadvertently suggesting that a pink character’s success is somehow unnatural. Halting, uneven rhymes never quite get up to speed. Vague instructions on the back cover to “Use the holes on each page to pop up, wiggle, and surprise your youngest readers” give little clue as to how exactly fingers should be placed. The holes are not consistently spaced; because there are often holes on either side of the gutter, it is not possible to deploy all at one time. The design appears to take no account of what is glimpsed through the holes, and they often reveal a confusing jumble rather than leading to a well-planned surprise or even simply giving a hint as to what will be seen when the page is turned. Active children are likely to take advantage of the die-cut holes to turn pages before the text can be read. The final “everyone wins” message makes for a disappointing, confusing finish.
Give this race the red flag. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: May 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-9218-8
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
A perfect piece of treasure it is not, but shiver me timbers, it’s fun.
Two pirates and their parrot companion embark on adventures to the tune of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”
Following Car, Car, Truck, Jeep (2018), Charman and Sharratt team up again for this swashbuckling, musical tale. The two buccaneers and their parrot spend a day at sea engaged in such maritime activities as scrubbing the deck and hoisting the sail along with quintessentially piratical chores like digging up buried treasure. At the end of the day—which culminates in a nonviolent walk across the plank—the two pirates return home. Charman’s rhyming text has a nice cadence, and thanks to the cover note to sing along to the tune of “Row, Row, Row, Your Boat,” it moves along at a nice clip. For the most part, the rhymes work neatly into the tune so that it reads easily the first time through. Sharratt’s black-outlined illustrations are boldly colored and eye-catching. The pirates themselves are not obviously gendered; one presents white and the other has light-brown skin. Most of the ocean creatures have anthropomorphized features—a mostly successful choice with the exception of the jellyfish and octopus, shown awkwardly with humanlike noses and smiles (and, oddly, eyebrows for the octopus). Overall, this one holds high appeal for little readers, and the nature of the singsong-y, rhyming text will make it a highly requested reread.
A perfect piece of treasure it is not, but shiver me timbers, it’s fun. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5476-0319-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Short, sweet, and engaging; a sing-along introduction to furry first responders.
“The Wheels on the Bus” gets an extra syllable, a siren, a hose, and a snazzy new ladder.
This variation on the popular children’s song should hit the spot with budding truck aficionados among the diapered set. The text is a straight adaptation of “The Wheels on the Bus,” with firetruck and firefighting themes replacing the sights and sounds of a bus rider’s commute. The siren goes “Woo-woo-woo,” the lights go “Flash, flash, flash,” the riders “hold on tight,” the ladder goes “up, up, up,” and the hose, of course, goes “swish-swish-swish—now, the fire’s out.” The book won’t win awards for originality, but it should be a toddler pleaser. The colors on the cover are an explosion of reflective red foil against a bright yellow background; the interior colors are more muted but still bright and cheery. The firefighters and onlookers are anthropomorphic animals in firefighter costume or civvies, as the case may be. Characters include a racoon, some bunnies, a fox, and a woodchuck, among others, all rendered in an accessible, cartoony style. Between the bright colors and the smiling gameness of the furry firefighters, the proceedings should excite and delight most tots.
Short, sweet, and engaging; a sing-along introduction to furry first responders. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: May 21, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4244-3
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
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