by SteveSongs & illustrated by David Sim ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 2011
Break out the crayons and markers, and put on some dancing shoes—this is sure to inspire on many levels.
The catchy shape song that many will recognize from PBS Kids gets some new verses and some brilliantly colored artwork in this collaboration from SteveSongs and Sim.
Bouncy rhythms and rhymes are sure to get kids singing, and their fingers will itch to draw: “I drew boats out on the water, / I drew a castle on the sand, / I drew a beachside waterslide, / Oh, what a ride! / And I never even had to stand / in line, line, circle, circle, / square, square, square, square, / triangle, triangle…” The premise is that most artwork starts with basic shapes: line, circle, square and triangle. Armed with these four shapes, the things that kids can draw are countless. Sim nicely demonstrates this in his double-page spreads. His busy scenes are full of the four featured shapes, naturally drawing readers’ eyes to them by their placement and color. But he includes other shapes as well: rectangles, ovals and semicircles. As in the PBS Kids video, the illustrations include four multiethnic kids, but here one of them wears a leg brace as well. Quirky, blocky animals that incorporate at least one of the shapes in their body and/or body language also populate Sim’s world. An enhanced CD (not seen) with the song and video is included.
Break out the crayons and markers, and put on some dancing shoes—this is sure to inspire on many levels. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-84686-671-5
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2011
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by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 23, 2014
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
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by Jimmy Fallon ; illustrated by Miguel Ordóñez ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 9, 2015
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
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