These multiple, small accessories make it inappropriate for the typical board-book audience or for library circulation, but...
Youngsters can mix and match detachable mustaches onto simple black-and-white face icons.
A large pocket holds three paperboard sheets of 12 mustaches in total, which can be detached from the perforated pages. Mustaches of opposite qualities are paired on each page spread: “Moustache UP and moustache DOWN. / Which ’stache covers up a frown?” The left-hand side of each spread has die-cut notches where the tabs protruding from the top of each moustache can be inserted over an illustration of said moustache. Included on this side of the spread is a subtly comic, knowingly retro cartoon of a man sporting one of the mustaches. The right-hand page holds a full-page cartoon face with one notch so the mustache of choice can be inserted. The verse and art seem to point to a correct mustache for each face, but youngsters will likely enjoy experimenting with various facial-hair arrangements. Some of the interchangeable mustaches, the backs of which sport a descriptive word (straight, curly, smooth, rough, etc.) to help with matching, are sturdier than others, and a couple of the thinner ones will be easily torn and the smaller ones easily lost.
These multiple, small accessories make it inappropriate for the typical board-book audience or for library circulation, but this offering will likely appeal to readers who appreciate a quirky and stylized design aesthetic and books with interactive features. (Board book. 3-5)Pub Date: July 23, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7526-7
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.
A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.
The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665954761
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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
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