Despite some proportion issues, this is a playful introduction to measurement for older preschoolers and up.
In this “Montessori-inspired” offering, youngsters can “measure, count, and compare” with a string of square beads attached to the book.
Ten colorful, cube-shaped beads are strung together on a thick, blue string (knotted at the end to keep them from falling off) embedded in the back page of the book. A perfectly fitted indentation lets the blocks and string nestle somewhat securely in the back of the book, but the beads are easily displaced, making their use in settings such as libraries problematic. Readers can pull the beads along the cord to measure different items depicted. Each double-page spread presents a different setting (“At home,” “In the sea,” etc.), and gentle prompts in a bold font encourage measuring and comparing: “Which of these is the tallest household object?” In the “Around town” section children can measure pictures of people, a car, a bike, a traffic cone, and a construction crane. The images are not purely proportional, as the 16-story building looks to be only twice as tall as the two-story house. Young children may need help manipulating the beads and making some of the comparisons in the queries, so adult assistance is essential. Surprisingly, readers are not encouraged to measure items in the real world with their beads or any other measuring tool.
Despite some proportion issues, this is a playful introduction to measurement for older preschoolers and up. (Board book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-68010-682-4
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Adults will do better skipping the book and talking with their children.
Social-equity themes are presented to children in ABC format.
Terms related to intersectional inequality, such as “class,” “gender,” “privilege,” “oppression,” “race,” and “sex,” as well as other topics important to social justice such as “feminism,” “human being,” “immigration,” “justice,” “kindness,” “multicultural,” “transgender,” “understanding,” and “value” are named and explained. There are 26 in all, one for each letter of the alphabet. Colorful two-page spreads with kid-friendly illustrations present each term. First the term is described: “Belief is when you are confident something exists even if you can’t see it. Lots of different beliefs fill the world, and no single belief is right for everyone.” On the facing page it concludes: “B is for BELIEF / Everyone has different beliefs.” It is hard to see who the intended audience for this little board book is. Babies and toddlers are busy learning the names for their body parts, familiar objects around them, and perhaps some basic feelings like happy, hungry, and sad; slightly older preschoolers will probably be bewildered by explanations such as: “A value is an expression of how to live a belief. A value can serve as a guide for how you behave around other human beings. / V is for VALUE / Live your beliefs out loud.”
Adults will do better skipping the book and talking with their children. (Board book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-78603-742-8
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
Caregivers eager to expose their children to fine art have better choices than this.
From “Apple” to “Zebra,” an alphabet of images drawn from museum paintings.
In an exhibition that recalls similar, if less parochial, ABCs from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (My First ABC, 2009) and several other institutions, Hahn presents a Eurocentric selection of paintings or details to illustrate for each letter a common item or animal—all printed with reasonable clarity and captioned with identifying names, titles, and dates. She then proceeds to saddle each with an inane question (“What sounds do you think this cat is making?” “Where can you find ice?”) and a clumsily written couplet that unnecessarily repeats the artist’s name: “Flowers are plants that blossom and bloom. / Frédéric Bazille painted them filling up this room!” She also sometimes contradicts the visuals, claiming that the horses in a Franz Marc painting entitled “Two Horses, 1912” are ponies, apparently to populate the P page. Moreover, her “X” is an actual X-ray of a Jean-Honoré Fragonard, showing that the artist repainted his subject’s face…interesting but not quite in keeping with the familiar subjects chosen for the other letters.
Caregivers eager to expose their children to fine art have better choices than this. (Informational picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5107-4938-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019
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