“It’s cold and wet. What can be done? / A trip on the subway, just for fun!” A father and his two children run down into the New York subway to ride the rails and explore the trains all day long. Every line is represented as the family hops from track to track. Set on stark, black backgrounds with free-flowing brush strokes, the trains swoop and turn on ribbons of appropriately colored paths. And when many of the lines converge in the middle of the book, aptly at Times Square, they tangle like spaghetti strings. After a full day of fun, the children climb out, ready for subway dreams at night. In a witty visual twist, the humans appear as traffic-sign–style white pictograms, with round heads floating over stick bodies (and occasionally attired to suit the text). Inspired by Niemann’s clever New York Times blog, “Abstract City,” this artistic tour de force will appeal to New Yorkers and visitors alike. Eagle-eyed enthusiasts will carefully plot every stop, spotting subway humor along the way. That the meter occasionally strains is the only false step on this fresh, striking subway tour. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-06-157779-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2010
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Lola’s daddy takes her to the library every Saturday, where she finds “excellent books,” and every night her mommy or daddy reads them to her. The next day Lola acts out the story. On Sunday she’s a fairy princess; on Monday she takes her toy animals “on fantastic trips to places like Paris”; on Wednesday she’s a tiger, etc. Each new book and day provides Lola with a variety of tales to play out, with the last one—which is about a wild monster—posing the question, “What will Lola be tomorrow?” The final page shows her in a wolf suit just like Max’s. The library books, the pretending and the incorporation of the days of the week work together as a simple and pleasing premise. Beardshaw’s acrylic illustrations depict the multicultural kids and Lola’s black family with childlike charm, while the title will have librarians, parents and booksellers smiling. Alert: The book will be an invitation for lap kids to follow Lola’s lead—not such a bad thing. (Picture book. 3-5)
Pub Date: July 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58089-258-2
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2010
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