There are many better chronicles of changing seasons.
Summer’s really fun—so will winter be terrible?
“Swimming is my favorite thing,” opines the protagonist from a pool, wearing red trunks and puffy yellow water wings. From this overhead view, wavery lines indicate the water’s movement around swimmers and across the pool’s pale blue tiles. But time marches forward, and a sister will begin the taunting. “Summer’s going to end soon,” she announces with a superior air, alarming the protagonist with forecasts of short days, leafless trees, being “stuck on the sofa for days,” and such chilly temperatures that even ice cream won’t appeal. But when fall and winter arrive, they hold their own delights. Chilly air allows nestling in a parent’s long scarf. Being “stuck on the sofa” means the family snuggles together under a quilt. Rain brings bright red boots, a yellow umbrella, and a chance to stomp puddles. And who needs ice cream when there’s cocoa? It’s an interracial family, with a White-appearing dad and Asian-appearing mom; the narrator looks an awful lot like Dad while big sister looks like Mom. A paradox makes the premise flimsy: A child who can imagine far enough ahead to fear future seasons would probably already hold some memory about what last winter was like—and be less vulnerable to a sibling’s dire prediction. Ciraolo’s art is inconsistent, sometimes seasonally evocative, sometimes seeming slapdash, with an odd, expressionist vibe. The text on the closing spreads peters out into dullness.
There are many better chronicles of changing seasons. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5362-1530-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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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