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MY FATHER KNOWS THE NAMES OF THINGS

Name: MY FATHER KNOWS THE NAMES OF THINGS
Author: Jane Yolen
ISBN: 978-1-4169-4895-7

by Jane Yolen & illustrated by Stéphane Jorisch ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 27, 2010

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“My father knows the names of things, / Each bird that sings, / Their nicknames, too, // He knows the names of dogs / And cheese // And seven words that all mean blue.” In this easy, graceful verse, a child celebrates his father’s expertise. Not only does dad know “a dozen...words for night,” he knows about soaps, dinosaurs, bugs and flowers. It’s a sweetly clever look at the phase in childhood when the parent is still omnipotent; as such, it’s uniquely disarming in a season full of lockstep rhyming couplets and unmitigated gush. Jorisch’s loose, whimsical watercolors makes clear the gentle, confident command that the father exerts on the child’s world. There is time enough for kids to learn their parents have feet of clay—this breath of fresh air is just right until then. (Picture book. 2-5)

Pub Date: April 27, 2010

ISBN: 978-1-4169-4895-7

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: Dec. 31, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2010

Categories:

CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

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REBECCA'S PRAYER FOR PRESIDENT LINCOLN
by Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Laura Barella

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THE MANY PROBLEMS OF ROCHEL-LEAH
by Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Felishia Henditirto

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TOO MANY GOLEMS
by Jane Yolen ; illustrated by Maya Shleifer

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PEPPA'S GIANT PUMPKIN

From the Peppa Pig series

by Samantha Lizzio ; illustrated by eOne ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 30, 2019

This TV rerun in board-book form has nothing new to offer.

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Peppa hopes to join her classmates in a Halloween pumpkin competition in this adaptation of a story from the popular British television program Peppa Pig.

With the help of Granny and Grandpa Pig, Peppa turns her giant pumpkin, which is the size of a compact car, into a jack-o’-lantern. The trio is flummoxed when it comes time to transport the pumpkin to the competition, so they call on Miss Rabbit and her helicopter to airlift the pumpkin to the festivities as Peppa and her grandparents ride inside. Peppa arrives just in time for the contest and wins the prize for best flying pumpkin. The scenes look as if they are pulled directly from the television show, right down to the rectangular framing of some of the scenes. While the story is literally nothing new, the text is serviceable, describing the action in two to three sentences per page. The pumpkin-shaped book and orange foil cover will likely attract youngsters, whether they are Peppa fans or not.

This TV rerun in board-book form has nothing new to offer. (Board book. 2-4)

Pub Date: July 30, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-338-33922-2

Page Count: 10

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015

Plotless and pointless, the book clearly exists only because its celebrity author wrote it.

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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)