Jump right into this joyful charmer.
Rainy days equal fun!
It’s raining, it’s pouring. What better time for doting parents, neighbors in an apartment building, to take their kids outside? Suiting up their toddlers and infant appropriately in brightly hued rain gear and galoshes, they step outdoors and, with the babe in a stroller, watch their children gleefully greet each other and take off. There are PUDDLES to jump in! Even a pet dog gets involved. This book delivers frolicking tots gamboling in said puddles—there’s mud, too—and offers up examples of delicious onomatopoeic words readers and listeners will delight in repeating as they mimic the kids’ activities. (Savvy grown-ups will provide children opportunities to display their puddle-jumping prowess.) A few from the text to savor that simply drip with squishy “wet” sounds are set in oversized type, e.g., “Squish! Squash! Squelch!” When the puddle jumpers are thoroughly soggy, it’s time to return home, remove wet togs, and have a snuggle. Then, to top off the day, just when you thought nature couldn’t produce a better show, a gorgeous multicolored arc appears in the sky. This exuberant British import, written in staccatolike prose emulating the rapid patter of raindrops, is a rainy-day winner. The colorful, energetic digital illustrations appropriately resemble watercolors. One of the families is brown-skinned, another is White-presenting, and the other includes a tan-skinned parent and lighter-skinned child. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Jump right into this joyful charmer. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 25, 2023
ISBN: 978-1-5362-2849-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Count on construction die-hards falling in love, but discerning readers would be wise to look elsewhere for their...
Less ambitious than Chris Gall’s widely known Dinotrux (2009) and sequels, this British import systematically relegates each dinosaur/construction-equipment hybrid to its most logical job.
The title figures are introduced as bigger than both diggers and dinosaurs, and rhyming text and two construction-helmeted kids show just what these creatures are capable of. Each diggersaur has a specific job to do and a distinct sound effect. The dozersaurus moves rocks with a “SCRAAAAPE!!!” while the rollersaurus flattens lumps with a cheery “TOOT TOOT!!” Each diggersaur is numbered, with 12 in all, allowing this to be a counting book on the sly. As the diggersaurs (not all of which dig) perform jobs that regular construction equipment can do, albeit on a larger scale, there is no particular reason why any of them should have dinosaurlike looks other than just ’cause. Peppy computer art tries valiantly to attract attention away from the singularly unoriginal text. “Diggersaurs dig with bites so BIG, / each SCOOP creates a crater. // They’re TOUGH and STRONG / with necks so long— / they’re super EXCAVATORS!” Far more interesting are the two human characters, a white girl and a black boy, that flit about the pictures offering commentary and action. Much of the fun of the book can be found in trying to spot them on every two-page spread.
Count on construction die-hards falling in love, but discerning readers would be wise to look elsewhere for their dino/construction kicks. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-4779-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.
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)Pub Date: June 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-00934-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: April 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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