There are better books out there on the sharing theme, but this one will do in a pinch.
When Ruby has something special, it’s hard for her to share.
Ruby, who appears white, likes to say “Just for me!” about all her special things: her dolly, a castle built of blocks, sprinkles on cookies, a turn at the mirror with Daddy’s shaving cream. When her brown-skinned friend arrives—“a friend just for me”—Ruby continues to smilingly declare ownership of everything. The two-wheeler and the bubbles don’t cause much trouble, but when Ruby tries to grab the tiara off her (unnamed) friend’s head, she isn’t smiling—and soon, neither is her friend. A broken tiara teaches Ruby to use the words “for me and you,” leading to “a good-bye hug just for you.” A silhouette of her parents walking with her on the last spread shows readers that her Mommy and Daddy are “just for” Ruby…but only “for now.” Visible paint strokes and strong colors make for textured and dynamic illustrations, though a too-varied color palette keeps the book from settling into a particular tone or mood. Ruby’s possessiveness will be familiar to many a toddler, and while the final image may need to be explained to younger readers, her turn-around is as instructive as it is intended to be. While Ruby’s claiming her friend as “just for [her]” is true to toddler development, that Ruby seems white and her friend appears black is quite unfortunate.
There are better books out there on the sharing theme, but this one will do in a pinch. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3527-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
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
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Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.
You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!
What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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