A how-to for adults that they can share with children.
In rhyming text this bilingual (Spanish/English) book details the pleasures children and adults will find reading together from birth through the rest of childhood.
Gentle illustrations that combine the looks of print and collage depict a pregnant Black mother preparing for the arrival of her baby by making a bookcase out of old shoeboxes. “I’ll build you a bookcase before you are born / that’s made out of boxes from shoes that were worn.” In the next double-page spread, two White dads describe the kinds of books that will go in the bookcase for their infant child: “for books we will read in the soft morning light / and books we will read before saying good night.” Each new double-page spread shows a different set of adults and children: a multiracial family, a Muslim mother and child; Black, White, brown, and Asian adults and children; old and young people; and a child in a wheelchair. And each spread details the wondrous worlds books will open up: “We’ll learn about bluebirds that live in a tree / and giant green turtles that nest near the sea.” There’s also a clear message aimed at adults: “I’ll build you a bookcase for when you turn 2, / my phone tucked away so it’s just me and you.” Backmatter tips on reading with children reemphasize the text’s message. The Spanish translation, done by Canetti, captures the mood and the rhythm of the original English text.
A how-to for adults that they can share with children. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 16, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64379-454-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Lee & Low Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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
SEEN & HEARD
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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