From MacDonald (with Bill Oakes, Once Upon Another, 1990, etc.), ten action verbs provide the setting for this guessing-game animal adventure for the very young. Action words—e.g., build, slide, swing, hide, wade, and climb—are introduced with colorful, oversized letters imitating the attribute of a particular animal in its natural habitat. Only a fat tail, pair of stick legs, hairy arm, or slippery flipper can be glimpsed in the introductory spreads for each animal. A turn of the page reveals the hidden creature in full view, paired with the word naming the animal in bold, black typeface. One spread pairs the nuzzling letters of the word Touch with two touching elephant trucks; the next spread shows the entire elephants, greeting one another. The letters of Wade move in the same dainty formation through water as the legs of flamingoes on the next page. MacDonald uses an Eric Carlelike medium of cutting clean shapes out of hand-painted tissue papers to create simple, uncluttered wildlife scenes: a pileated woodpecker pecking a tree or a long-necked giraffe reaching for leaves in the high canopy. A glossary of facts on all ten animals, too difficult for the picture-book audience, will be useful to adults sharing the book with children. (Picture book/nonfiction. 2-4)
Pub Date: April 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-15-200079-8
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1997
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name.
A brief rhyming board book for toddlers.
Spurr's earlier board books (In the Garden and At the Beach, both 2012; In the Woods, 2013) featured an adventuresome little boy. Her new slice-of-life story stars an equally joyful little girl who takes pleasure in flying a new kite while not venturing far off the walkway. Oliphant's expressive and light-filled watercolors clearly depict the child's emotions—eager excitement on the way to the park, delight at the kite's flight in the wind, shock when the kite breaks free, dejection, and finally relief and amazement. The rhymes work, though uneven syllable counts in some stanzas interrupt the smooth flow of the verse. The illustrations depict the child with her mass of windblown curls, brown skin, and pronounced facial features as African-American. Her guardian (presumably her mother) is also brown-skinned. It is refreshing to see an African-American family settled comfortably in a suburban setting with single-family homes and a park where the family dog does not need to be leashed.
A gentle outing for children who are ready for stories of everyday life rather than just objects to name. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56145-854-7
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
In this entry in the Growing Tree series, the publisher copyrights the text, while Carpenter provides illustrations for the story; here, the three billy goats named Gruff play on a nasty troll’s greed to get where the grass is greenest. Logic has never been the long suit of this tale: Instead of letting the two smaller billy goats be terrorized by the mean and ugly troll, children wonder, why doesn’t the biggest billy goat step in sooner? It’s still a good introduction to comparatives, and the repetitiveness of the story invites participation. The artwork matches the story: The characters are suitably menacing, quivering, or stalwart, and the perspectives allow readers to be right there in the thick of the action. (Picture book. 2-4)
Pub Date: June 30, 1998
ISBN: 0-694-01033-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HarperFestival
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
