A little scratchboard, a little watercolor, and voilà! The prettiest nondenominational winter book seen in ages.
It’s a counting book. It’s a winter animal book. It’s a just plain beautiful book!
“One red fox walks / across the white snow / quietly / stalking winter.” Meanwhile, the fox looks boldly at readers, a single paw raised. Though weather and color palettes may change from page to page as the book counts to 12, the one thing that remains the same is the sense of awe readers will feel while observing these animals in their native Alaskan environments. Each animal’s relationship to the season is described in evocative verse, whether they’re “talking winter” or “tracking,” “riding,” “hiding,” “facing,” “racing,” “naming,” “taming,” “feeding,” or “meeting” it. The final animals on display—human kids of various skin tones—slip and slide on ice that’s rapidly melting as spring arrives. With lines such as “Four red squirrels feast / at their midden full of cones / hungrily / cracking winter,” Carlstrom’s writing deftly sets this title apart from other counting books. Meanwhile, McGehee’s art conjures up both the silly side of nature and its incredible dignity and variety. Backmatter consists of animal profiles, with fun facts about each one pictured. In her author’s note, Carlstrom reminisces about observing wildlife while living in Alaska; in an illustrator’s note, McGehee discusses researching the animals she drew.
A little scratchboard, a little watercolor, and voilà! The prettiest nondenominational winter book seen in ages. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9780802855701
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Eerdmans
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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