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FRUITS

Name: FRUITS
Author: Valerie Bloom
ISBN: 0-8050-5171-6

A CARIBBEAN COUNTING POEM

by Valerie Bloom & illustrated by David Axtell ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1997

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From half a pawpaw to ten bananas, a cornucopia of ripe, colorful Caribbean fruits prove irresistible to a young girl and her little sister. Eating and counting her way through a tempting array of fruits such as the guinep, jackfruit, naseberry and sweet-sop, Ö la The Very Hungry Caterpillar, an island youngster becomes predictably sick. First published in Britain as part of a collection, Duppy Jamboree (1992), this edible escapade is in the form of a rhymed poem, spoken in Jamaican dialect. ``Five june-plum, ah can't believe it!/How dem know june-plum's me fav'rit?/But why dem hide dem in de cupboard?/Cho, people can be so awkward.'' Although authentic to the Patwa language, the pronunciations and cadences can, for unpracticed readers, result in a halting tempo rather than the intended rhythmic lilt. Axtell's textured oil paintings of fruits, clothing, and houses are drenched in colors as juicy as sliced watermelon. His first picture book makes bold use of flamingo pinks, pumpkin oranges, key lime aquas, and shiny slicker yellows to season the visual palette from cover to cover, including the apple-red fences on the endpapers. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: March 1, 1997

ISBN: 0-8050-5171-6

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1997

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
STARS WITH FLAMING TAILS
by Valerie Bloom ; illustrated by Ken Wilson-Max

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TEN LITTLE FISH

by Audrey Wood & illustrated by Bruce Wood ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2004

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This charming, colorful counting tale of ten little fish runs full-circle. Although the light verse opens and closes with ten fish swimming in a line, page-by-page the line grows shorter as the number of fish diminishes one-by-one. One fish dives down, one gets lost, one hides, and another takes a nap until a single fish remains. Then along comes another fish to form a couple and suddenly a new family of little fish emerges to begin all over. Slick, digitally-created images of brilliant marine flora and fauna give an illusion of underwater depth and silence enhancing the verse’s numerical and theatrical progression. The holistic story bubbles with life’s endless cycle. (Picture book. 3-5)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-439-63569-1

Page Count: 40

Publisher: Blue Sky/Scholastic

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2004

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FULL MOON AT THE NAPPING HOUSE
by Audrey Wood ; illustrated by Don Wood

- BOOK REVIEW
THE BIRTHDAY QUEEN
by Audrey Wood ; illustrated by Don Wood

- BOOK REVIEW
IT'S DUFFY TIME!
by Audrey Wood & illustrated by Don Wood

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YOUR BABY'S FIRST WORD WILL BE DADA

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.

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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)