Overall, a visually stunning book with a lively storyline whose final pages may leave readers puzzled.
What do you get when you mix pots, pans, spoons, and some creative friends? Music!
On the first page of this book, an unnamed owl brandishes a pair of spoons and a pot and declares to a friend, “I’m making music!” So begins a tale of young bird children raiding the kitchen for instruments ranging from pot lids to spatulas to colanders until they form a riotous, joyful band. Delicately rendered in watercolor and ink, Stehr’s characters are colorful, juvenile birds whose facial expressions range from delighted to startled to disappointed. While the use of repeated onomatopoeia coupled with the children’s cooperation and creativity gives the narrative a playful momentum, the insertion of an adult character, the owl’s parent, interrupts the flow, ultimately making the ending feel abrupt and disjointed. Additionally, the book is a translation from the French, and in places the English feels stilted, particularly on the final two pages when the characters suddenly adopt a more adult intonation. The onomatopoeic words are playfully scattered on the page like popcorn, but by the end, they become so dense that it is difficult to read out loud.
Overall, a visually stunning book with a lively storyline whose final pages may leave readers puzzled. (Board book. 1-4)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-77657-136-9
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Gecko Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
An effervescent celebration of play in the early years.
As with Spanyol’s stellar Clive books, Rosa’s favorite activities buck gender stereotypes.
The toddler races toy cars, jumps monster trucks, and builds a car out of a cardboard box with her buddies in what looks like a day care or preschool setting. Spanyol’s childlike lines, soft palette, and chunky figures are as cheerful as ever. The text is mostly straightforward, simple narration peppered with exclamations from Rosa and her chums: “Rosa and Marcel play in the sandpit. ‘Dig-a-dig, dig-a-dig, scoop!’ sings Rosa.” Rosa has brown skin and black, curly hair, and she wears bright yellow eyeglasses. Her friends include Samira, who uses a wheelchair and is likely of South Asian descent; Mustafa, who appears black; Biba, who has light-brown skin and straight, black hair; and Sarah and Marcel, who both present white. Three other equally charming titles accompany this offering. In Rosa and Her Dinosaurs, the heroine dons a purple dress and plays with a collection of toy dinosaurs. Rosa and her buds (all wearing helmets) roll through the pages of Rosa Rides Her Scooter. And in Rosa Plays Ball, Rosa pushes a cart with various kinds of balls to toss about with her friends outside.
An effervescent celebration of play in the early years. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-78628-125-8
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name.
A brief rhyming board book for toddlers.
Spurr's earlier board books (In the Garden and At the Beach, both 2012; In the Woods, 2013) featured an adventuresome little boy. Her new slice-of-life story stars an equally joyful little girl who takes pleasure in flying a new kite while not venturing far off the walkway. Oliphant's expressive and light-filled watercolors clearly depict the child's emotions—eager excitement on the way to the park, delight at the kite's flight in the wind, shock when the kite breaks free, dejection, and finally relief and amazement. The rhymes work, though uneven syllable counts in some stanzas interrupt the smooth flow of the verse. The illustrations depict the child with her mass of windblown curls, brown skin, and pronounced facial features as African-American. Her guardian (presumably her mother) is also brown-skinned. It is refreshing to see an African-American family settled comfortably in a suburban setting with single-family homes and a park where the family dog does not need to be leashed.
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56145-854-7
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
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