BIG SHINY MACHINES

This one-size-fits-none adaptation of a series for older children (Amazing Machines, with Tony Mitton) takes a promising topic and complicates it. Shiny foil accents the machines, which are driven by cheery cartoon animals to an onomatopoeic accompaniment: “rumble! rumble!” Parts of the machines receive diagrammatic treatment (cab, mirror, blade, hitch pin), making for an overbusy composition, and a sentence glosses its use in terms beyond the ken of most in the board-book audience: “A plow breaks up the soil to get a field ready for planting.” Too much for most toddlers, but not quite enough for most preschoolers—not too surprising, given its origins. Other titles include On the Go (ISBN: 978-0-7534-6262-1), Hard at Work (ISBN: 978-0-7534-6263-8) and Racing Along (ISBN: 978-0-7534-6265-2). (18-36 mos.)