An enjoyable and relatable tale of childhood mishaps.
An unsupervised kid makes a mess in the house in this picture book.
While his babysitter is distracted and his sister, Molly, naps, Billy, a Black child, decides to bake cookies. Trying to recall how his mom makes them, he mixes sugar, butter, and a “full carton of eggs.” When Billy accidentally knocks over the flour canister, it hits the bowl, sending ingredients flying everywhere. The commotion wakes Molly up. Billy reassures his sister that after a bath, he’ll clean up. Billy doesn’t recall how much bubble soap his mom adds to the tub, so he uses the entire bottle. He enjoys his soak but forgets to shut off the tap, resulting in a flood in the bathroom. Hearing the noise, Molly barges in and climbs on the windowsill, afraid because she doesn’t know how to swim. Just then, “Mommy rushed in….Her shoes were covered with eggs and flour. When she saw the scene…she was speechless.” Now, she makes sure the kitchen is stocked with cookies before she goes out and that her son has a book to read during Molly’s naptime. Dee’s eventful tale depicts how well-intentioned childhood curiosity can lead to chaotic, sometimes comical misadventures. The silly scenes here will amuse young readers familiar with messy situations of their own. Displaying bright, engaging colors, Perko’s illustrations creatively mirror the hectic events. Details like puffs of white flour dust and rubber ducks bobbing in the water are fun touches.
An enjoyable and relatable tale of childhood mishaps.Pub Date: June 24, 2021
ISBN: 979-8511680569
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
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
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