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JUMP INTO JANUARY

A JOURNEY AROUND THE YEAR

Blackstone dances readers through a calendar year, inviting them to catalogue common items visible in each of a dozen simple, seasonal collage and gouache scenes. Beneath captioning rhymes (“Whirl into MARCH, come along with me! / The wind is whistling down the street—what can you see?”), she helps that catalogue along by listing a dozen or so items or other details per spread in a running footer, in this case: church, flag, truck, nest, clothesline, Frisbee, etc. Though everyone is smiling, even the occasional bunny or cat, in Carluccio’s varied, idyllic settings, and Christmas seems to be the only holiday celebrated, at least the human figures show a range of ages and skin tones, and one child drives a wheelchair. All in all, not a bad way to introduce the months or to give younger children some practice in pairing words to objects. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004

ISBN: 1-84148-629-9

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Barefoot Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2004

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GUESS AGAIN!

A series of rollicking riddles with unexpected answers. In the first spread, the picture on the left apparently shows a rabbit in silhouette while the short verse on the right provides the clues: “He steals carrots... / His floppy ears are long and funny. / Can you guess who? That’s right! My….” Turn the page for the answer: “Grandpa Ned.” (Ned’s upside-down, with socks half-pulled off to resemble rabbit ears.) Grandpa Ned turns up twice more, as the answer to a riddle that seems to be about a cat and later as the setup answer to another riddle. The book’s four other riddles involve a pirate, snow creatures, a mouse hole and a dark cave. A lifting flap and a gatefold add tactile interest. Rex’s straightforward gouache-and–mixed-media illustrations downplay the mischief of the premise, appropriately lobbing visual softballs at an audience disoriented by the goof on a tried-and-true formula they’ve encountered over and over. In all, it’s a refreshing (albeit slight) spoof for jaded young readers who have aced easy Q&A books; some may find it too cool for the room. (Picture book. 4-6)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-1-4169-5566-5

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2009

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AN ABC OF EQUALITY

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

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