Bartholomew, the pudgy butterscotch bear, rejoins his friends Little Black Kitten and George in this colorful counting story. Bartholomew seems to have done away with his favorite word, “Nah,” in favor of his apple tree and all that can be done with it. Not least of all counting the red apples. As the green apples on his tree ripen one by one to candy-apple red, the reader counts them. On the far left of each spread, a bright color band pictures the plucked apples, and represents them with the appropriate numeral and the number spelled out. The rest of the spread is filled with Bartholomew and his two friends involved in activities with the majestic tree. As the uncomplicated story unfolds, readers see that, among other things, “He loves swinging from its branches,” and hiding beneath its fallen leaves. When Little Black Kitten gets stuck high in the apple tree, the bigger bear, George, joins Bartholomew in the rescue. His friends are also willing to lend a hand when it comes to using those ten sweet apples in the ultimate delicious way. In a watercolor palate ranging from juicy bright to powder soft and outlined in crayon-textured black, Miller’s (In a Minute!, 2001, etc.) illustrations are picture-perfect for youngsters. The text is bold and simple, and the format is varied so to appeal to any learning style, making counting almost effortless. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-7636-1901-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2002
As ephemeral as a valentine.
Daywalt and Jeffers’ wandering crayons explore love.
Each double-page spread offers readers a vision of one of the anthropomorphic crayons on the left along with the statement “Love is [color].” The word love is represented by a small heart in the appropriate color. Opposite, childlike crayon drawings explain how that color represents love. So, readers learn, “love is green. / Because love is helpful.” The accompanying crayon drawing depicts two alligators, one holding a recycling bin and the other tossing a plastic cup into it, offering readers two ways of understanding green. Some statements are thought-provoking: “Love is white. / Because sometimes love is hard to see,” reaches beyond the immediate image of a cat’s yellow eyes, pink nose, and black mouth and whiskers, its white face and body indistinguishable from the paper it’s drawn on, to prompt real questions. “Love is brown. / Because sometimes love stinks,” on the other hand, depicted by a brown bear standing next to a brown, squiggly turd, may provoke giggles but is fundamentally a cheap laugh. Some of the color assignments have a distinctly arbitrary feel: Why is purple associated with the imagination and pink with silliness? Fans of The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) hoping for more clever, metaliterary fun will be disappointed by this rather syrupy read.
As ephemeral as a valentine. (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-9268-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
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