Quick but savory fare, both sonic and visual, for pre- or newly independent readers.
Two award winners pair wordplay and food play.
In very simple illustrations, Pizzoli, who won the Geisel Medal for The Watermelon Seed (2013), gives two children of color pets, basic props, and bananas to employ as Singer, winner of a Cybil Award for Mirror, Mirror, illustrated by Josée Masse (2010), directs. “You can grip it / and unzip it. / Smash and mash it with a spoon. // You can trace it. / Outer-space it— / make believe that it’s the moon.” Eventually, though, after toting it, floating it, and pretending it’s a flute, she suggests one more way to enjoy it: “Don’t forget that it’s a fruit!” Likewise, in the co-published What’s an Apple? a brown-skinned lad and a blonde, white playmate “pick” and “kick” apples, “snuggle,” “juggle,” and “bob,” but also slice, dip in caramel, and make the fruit into a pie. The final scene, in which the children, dressed in vacuum suits, exchange apples on the lunar surface, rather begs the closing claim that “You can eat it anyplace.” But children, at least, will find chopped logic a bland, dry alternative to the juicy rhymes and sweet subject matter.
Quick but savory fare, both sonic and visual, for pre- or newly independent readers. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2139-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2016
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
Nothing riveting but serviceable enough.
Children are introduced to the concepts of sorting and classifying in this bedtime story.
It is getting close to bedtime, and Marco’s mother asks him to put his toys away. Marco—who thinks of himself as a scientist—corrects her: “You mean time to sort the animals.” And that’s what he proceeds to do. Marco sorts his animals into three baskets labeled “Flying Animals,” “Swimming Animals,” and “Animals That Move on Land,” but the animals will not sleep. So he sorts them by color: “Mostly Brown,” “Black and White,” and “Colors of the Rainbow,” but Zebra is upset to be separated from Giraffe. Next, Marco sorts his animals by size: “Small,” “Medium,” and “Large,” but the big animals are cramped and the small ones feel cold. Finally, Marco ranges them around his bed from biggest to smallest, thus providing them with space to move and helping them to feel safe. Everyone satisfied, they all go to sleep. While the plot is flimsy, the general idea that organizing and classifying can be accomplished in many different ways is clear. Young children are also presented with the concept that different classifications can lead to different results. The illustrations, while static, keep the focus clearly on the sorting taking place. Marco and his mother have brown skin. The backmatter includes an explanation of sorting in science and ideas for further activities.
Nothing riveting but serviceable enough. (Math picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62354-128-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
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