bookshelf

FROM MORNING TO NIGHT

Name: FROM MORNING TO NIGHT
Author: Flavia Ruotola
ISBN: 978-1-61689-615-7

A BOOK OF HIDDEN SHAPES

by Flavia Ruotola ; illustrated by Flavia Ruotola ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2018

A concept book with a mind-expanding perspective.

bookshelf

This French import uses simple techniques to encourage children to recognize familiar shapes in unusual places.

Each spread consists of a pair of illustrations, the first one a common object, the second one the same elements reoriented to represent a different object. The color palette of warm orange and blue is skillfully used to enhance the differences between the two images. A simple bowl and spoon, captioned “a morning meal” is transformed into “a magic mushroom” by means of inverting the speckled bowl and broadening the blue spoon to make it a blue stalk. An orange fruit becomes a planet when a simple orange sphere changes to blue and the blue stem becomes a tiny orange star. Similarly, an orange segment morphs into a distant planet’s orbiting moon, and a gift becomes a music box—from “a surprise” to “a song.” A simple horizontal line spanning the spread changes from “a path” sprinkled with blue dots recalling snowflakes to “the night sky” with a constellation of orange stars. Some of the pairs offer contrasting emotional perceptions: “disappointment”—an empty chest—becomes “delight”—a letter in an envelope. In the final illustration, lines of text in a book (“a story read”) become the striped sheets of a pair of twin beds (“time for bed”).

A concept book with a mind-expanding perspective. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: March 6, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-61689-615-7

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press

Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

bookshelf

CHICKA CHICKA HO HO HO

From the Chicka Chicka Book series

by William Boniface ; illustrated by Julien Chung ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 2024

A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.

bookshelf

A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.

The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.

A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024

ISBN: 9781665954761

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

bookshelf

GREEN IS FOR CHRISTMAS

by Drew Daywalt ; illustrated by Oliver Jeffers ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 19, 2021

Fun enough to read once but without enough substance to last.

bookshelf

Familiar crayon characters argue over which color is the essential Christmas color.

Green starts by saying that green is for Christmas. After all, green is for holly. But Red objects. Red is for candy canes. Green is for fir trees, Green retorts. But Red is for Santa Claus, who agrees. (Santa is depicted as a white-bearded White man.) Then White joins the fray. After spending the year being invisible, White isn’t giving up the distinction of association with Christmas. Snow, anyone? But then there’s Silver: stars and bells. And Brown: cookies and reindeer! At this point, everyone is confused. But they come together and agree that Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without all of them together. Someone may get the last word, though. In Daywalt and Jeffers’ now-signature style, the crayon-written text is spare and humorous, while the crayon characters engage with each other against a bare white background, vying for attention. Dot-eyed faces and stick legs on each object turn them all into comical, if similar, personalities. But the series’ original cleverness is absent here, leaving readers with a perfunctory recitation of attributes. Fans of the crayon books may delight in another themed installment; those who aren’t already fans will likely find it lacking. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Fun enough to read once but without enough substance to last. (Picture book. 3-6)