A fun fall pick for interactive storytelling.
Amara needs help finding pumpkins on her farm; can you help her?
Amara, a young Black girl in overalls with Afro puffs, has many plants on the farm she runs with her elderly caregivers. Today she must find her pumpkins for her autumn potluck. The text describes pumpkins in detail and then proposes, “Let’s help Amara find her pumpkins!” As Amara wanders around her farm looking at various fruits and vegetables, the text asks readers, “Is that a pumpkin?” on the verso, and then answers, “No. That’s an apple” (or a persimmon, or a potato), and points out the differences and similarities between it and a pumpkin. This goes on until Amara is close to giving up; at last she spots the pumpkins, and the potluck is saved. A small but diverse group of friends appears for an outdoor meal, and a recipe for molasses pumpkin bread is included at the end. The premise of this story will delight preschoolers who like to show off what they know, answering questions and searching the pages for pumpkins. Some may get a bit impatient as the search runs rather long, but the inclusion of produce less common in some regions of the United States, such as kumquats, figs, and okra, fights boredom. The illustrations are full of delightful details, and the wonderfully busy endpapers are scrumptious.
A fun fall pick for interactive storytelling. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68263-165-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Still, preschoolers will likely savor this mouthwatering treatment of a subject that looms large in many early school...
The familiar theme of the challenges facing a new kid in town is given an original treatment by photographer Border in this book of photos of three-dimensional objects in a simple modeled landscape.
Peanut Butter is represented by a slice of white bread spread with the popular condiment. The other characters in the story—a hamburger with a pair of hot dogs in tow, a bowl of alphabet soup, a meatball jumping a rope of spaghetti, a carton of French fries and a pink cupcake—are represented by skillfully crafted models of these foods, anthropomorphized using simple wire construction. Rejected by each character in turn in his search for playmates, Peanut Butter discovers in the end that Jelly is his true match (not Cupcake, as the title suggests), perhaps because she is the only one who looks like him, being a slice of white bread spread with jelly. The friendly foods end up happily playing soccer together. Some parents may have trouble with the unabashedly happy depiction of carbs and American junk food (no carrots or celery sticks in this landscape), and others may find themselves troubled by the implication that friendship across difference is impossible.
Still, preschoolers will likely savor this mouthwatering treatment of a subject that looms large in many early school experiences. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-16773-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
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