As visually exciting as Stack the Cats but not as successful conceptually, this attractive book can still lead to fruitful...
Following Stack the Cats (2017), here is another fun opportunity for young thinkers to use their observational skills.
The birds, mostly deep aqua and olive, alight (sometimes) on a tree with many branches, set against striking backgrounds of orange, yellow, aqua, and blue. “Here come the birds! // Half on the left side / and half on the right. // This is how / the birds balance!”: four on each side. Soon a squirrel upsets things and triggers further permutations. Most young children will follow the process easily, until that pesky squirrel scares all but one bird away. When a big white owl shows up, “How will these birds balance?” Five small birds fly in to “balance” one big one. Without knowing the weights involved, the idea of balance becomes very abstract. Finally, many types of birds of all sizes and shapes (and the squirrel) appear on the tree. The tree looks balanced again. This last double-page spread asks the open-ended question: “How will you / balance the birds?” It is an impossible question to answer given the visual information available. For some readers, it will just prove frustrating. For others, it may open up the path to physical experimentation with simple toys or equipment, if there are cooperative adults around.
As visually exciting as Stack the Cats but not as successful conceptually, this attractive book can still lead to fruitful discussions and scientific play. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2876-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
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
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat.
Dinos that love to move and groove get children counting from one to 10—and perhaps moving to the beat.
Beginning with a solo bop by a female dino (she has eyelashes, doncha know), the dinosaur dance party begins. Each turn of the page adds another dino and a change in the dance genre: waltz, country line dancing, disco, limbo, square dancing, hip-hop, and swing. As the party would be incomplete without the moonwalk, the T. Rex does the honors…and once they are beyond their initial panic at his appearance, the onlookers cheer wildly. The repeated refrain on each spread allows for audience participation, though it doesn’t easily trip off the tongue: “They hear a swish. / What’s this? / One more? / One more dino on the floor.” Some of the prehistoric beasts are easily identifiable—pterodactyl, ankylosaurus, triceratops—but others will be known only to the dino-obsessed; none are identified, other than T-Rex. Packed spreads filled with psychedelically colored dinos sporting blocks of color, stripes, or polka dots (and infectious looks of joy) make identification even more difficult, to say nothing of counting them. Indeed, this fails as a counting primer: there are extra animals (and sometimes a grumpy T-Rex) in the backgrounds, and the next dino to join the party pokes its head into the frame on the page before. Besides all that, most kids won’t get the dance references.
It’s a bit hard to dance, or count, to this beat. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8075-1598-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
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