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THE DAD WITH 10 CHILDREN

Name: THE DAD WITH 10 CHILDREN
Author: Bénédicte Guettier
ISBN: 978-1-909645-84-4

From the Big Picture Books series

by Bénédicte Guettier ; illustrated by Bénédicte Guettier ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 5, 2015

1 dad + 10 tykes = sublime silliness.

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A single dad blessed (or cursed—mileage may vary) with 10 very young children builds a boat and sails away.

The unnamed dad is capable beyond belief, preparing 10 breakfasts and then wrangling his wriggling issue into 10 shirts, 10 pairs of pants, 20 socks, and 20 shoes before dropping them off at school. He reverses his routine at night, closing the day with one story and 10 kisses—and then going to his workshop, where he is secretly building a boat. The tots are thrilled when it's finished but dismayed when Dad announces his intention of leaving them with Grandma while he sails solo "for at least 10 months." It only takes 10 days, though, before he gets lonely and returns to pack them all aboard for a family adventure. Guettier illustrates her daffy tale with bright blobs of gouache and thick, black lines. The dad and his kids are all Caucasian, the little ones mostly bald with little kewpie curls, and the illustrations take full advantage of the lack of individuation; they resemble a swarm more than children. The sheer looniness of the premise—the 10 children are all apparently the same age, and there's no hint of a mom—will beguile young and old, and parents will feel Dad's paternal pain and passion with wry amusement.

1 dad + 10 tykes = sublime silliness. (Picture book. 2-5)

Pub Date: May 5, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-909645-84-4

Page Count: 42

Publisher: Scribblers/Sterling

Review Posted Online: March 16, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S FAMILY

- BOOK REVIEW
I AM THE WOLF...AND HERE I COME!
by Bénédicte Guettier ; illustrated by Bénédicte Guettier

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FATHER WHO HAD TEN CHILDREN
by Bénédicte Guettier

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LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S CHRISTMAS

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...

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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

Categories:

CHILDREN'S CONCEPTS | CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S TRANSPORTATION

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK MAKES A FRIEND
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by Jill McElmurry

- BOOK REVIEW
TIME FOR SCHOOL, LITTLE BLUE TRUCK
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

- BOOK REVIEW
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK'S VALENTINE
by Alice Schertle ; illustrated by John Joseph

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ANIMAL SHAPES

by Christopher Silas Neal ; illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 27, 2018

Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.

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You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!

What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?

Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)