With tracing, flaps, rhymed text, and farm scenes, there is an awful lot going on, and adult readers may wish to skim some...
Down on the farm, little fingers can trace shapes and open flaps.
On every other double-page spread, readers are encouraged to trace a variety of lines debossed into the board pages. Below the tracing feature, youngsters can lift a flap and locate the same pattern just painted in an image beneath. On the following double-page spread, these traceable lines appear again in the context of a larger farm scene. For example, readers can trace a zigzag line. Underneath, kids can locate the zigzag pattern on the jagged edge of the chick’s shell, and, below the flap, the zigzag appears again in a pattern on a dog’s collar. All of this is repeated on the next double-page spread, and this time, readers can draw the zigzag in the chick’s shell in a busy scene. Often forced rhyming couplets accompany the illustrations, instructing readers to trace this or that pattern; with the dotted lines showing the direction to trace, these directions feel superfluous. The variety of shapes for tracing will be helpful for little ones engaging in pre-writing activities, particularly traceable circles, loops, zigzags, and straight lines. Youngsters will enjoy the final spread, featuring a tractor’s long trail for readers to follow.
With tracing, flaps, rhymed text, and farm scenes, there is an awful lot going on, and adult readers may wish to skim some elements to keep from overwhelming children . (Board book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58925-220-2
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
Let these crayons go back into their box.
The Crayons return to celebrate Easter.
Six crayons (Red, Orange, Yellow, Esteban, who is green and wears a yellow cape, White, and Blue) each take a shape and scribble designs on it. Purple, perplexed and almost angry, keeps asking why no one is creating an egg, but the six friends have a great idea. They take the circle decorated with red shapes, the square adorned with orange squiggles “the color of the sun,” the triangle with yellow designs, also “the color of the sun” (a bit repetitious), a rectangle with green wavy lines, a white star, about which Purple remarks: “DID you even color it?” and a rhombus covered with blue markings and slap the shapes onto a big, light-brown egg. Then the conversation turns to hiding the large object in plain sight. The joke doesn’t really work, the shapes are not clear enough for a concept book, and though colors are delineated, it’s not a very original color book. There’s a bit of clever repartee. When Purple observe that Esteban’s green rectangle isn’t an egg, Esteban responds, “No, but MY GOSH LOOK how magnificent it is!” Still, that won’t save this lackluster book, which barely scratches the surface of Easter, whether secular or religious. The multimedia illustrations, done in the same style as the other series entries, are always fun, but perhaps it’s time to retire these anthropomorphic coloring implements. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Let these crayons go back into their box. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Feb. 7, 2023
ISBN: 978-0-593-62105-9
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.
A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.
The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665954761
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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