"Well-suited for today's bilingual learning environments, if not a particularly rich read. (Easy reader. 6-8)"
Max and Sarah's simple indoor game of hide-and-seek moves to the wintry outdoors where, with help from Mommy, they build a snowgirl and a snowboy.
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"A simple story with cute illustrations, but the lack of care given to the Spanish translation results in an unbalanced bilingual book as a whole. (Bilingual early reader. 5-8)"
This title is one of several by Ziefert in the bilingual ¡Hola English! series, intended to appeal both to Spanish-speaking readers learning English and the reverse.
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"Skip this one. (Informational picture book. 5-8)"
Lucy goes birding with her grandfather, learning to use binoculars and identifying many birds before they finally find a robin.
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Setting a new standard for whiny neediness, an unseen narrator presents an alphabetical series of demands, beginning with "Adore me," and continuing on through "Kiss me," "Notice me," "Warm me" and "eXcuse me" to (with a picture of two figures on a bicycle)
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"Growth and change become wondrous things in this well-conceived and -executed nature story. (Picture book. 5-10)"
Readers follow an apple from tree to market to mouth; when birds pick the seeds from the nibbled core, a tree sprouts, bursting with blossoms in spring and providing a new crop of apples in summer.
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"While none of the animals declares, 'Buy this book, not that one,' this does pack a triple punch—the concept-book format pleases parents, the illustrations and guess-ability of the opposites suit a storytime setting and children will go ape over the animals. (Picture book. 3-5)"
Zoo animals explore the ways they are different in this latest from Ziefert.
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"The differences are subtle, but interesting to explore—expressions, colors and number of features change, creating many avenues for conversation between grown-up and toddler as well as providing basic animal-identification opportunities. (18-36 mos.)"
An oversized book distinguished by SAMi's trademark clean design and use of die-cuts encourages toddlers to examine small differences in facial features and expressions.
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"Though Mighty Max may not actually save the day, and certainly deserves a more heroic ending, he'll put smiles on readers' faces. (Picture book. 4-6)"
Mighty Max, as he calls himself, is an ordinary young boy who likes to wear a red cape.
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"Varied perspectives offer long-shots and close-ups, deep purples and blues in the background allowing the coal-eyed, carrot-nosed folk to fairly glow at their gala. (Picture book. 4-8)"
"[W]hen the first snow of the year falls on the first day of winter, [the snowpeople] have a snow party!"
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Eight simple poems in Haiku form, one for each night of Hanukkah, tell of family traditions and the joy of lighting the candles together, playing dreidel, eating latkes and applesauce, receiving shiny coins or Hanukkah gelt, singing and dancing and, of course, hearing the story of the Maccabees.
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"Murphy's mixed-media collages add dimension and humor to what may become a classic prep for a visit to the dentist's office and is a neat companion to its predecessor, 2007's ABC Doctor. (Informational picture book. 4-8)"
In alphabetical order, this cheery offering provides a succinct overview of a visit to the dentist.
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Triangle, circle, square, rectangle, oval: Brightly colored die-cut pages allow toddlers to encounter these basic shapes in a variety of incarnations.
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"Readers will need a discerning eye to discover the secrets hidden within them without feeling the need to go clean their own rooms. (Picture book. 5-8)"
Bessie, an untidy mouse, awakens one morning to a mess of monumental proportions.
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"Young readers and listeners, whether from single-parent households like this or otherwise, will smile too. (Picture book. 4-6)"
Ziefert enters Charlotte Zolotow territory with an intimate bit of give-and-take between little Edward, who wishes he were bigger, and his father as they walk home from the playground, engage in a bit of playful role reversal (" ‘You've been a bad boy,' said Edward. ‘And you haven't finished your juice.' ") and then get ready for bed.
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In a terse alphabet for the self-absorbed, Bergen digitally adds an occasional background or detail to 26 close-up views of the vinyl animal characters she manufactures, which appear with such demanding captions as "Admire me," "Buckle me," "E-mail me," "Gimme!"
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"Lois Ehlert's Circus and Dr. Seuss's To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street are better bets. (Picture book. 3-8)"
Clowns, bears, monkeys, majorettes, acrobats, bands and strong men are among the many who march when the circus parade comes through town.
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This play rhyme in board book form invites young listeners to sashay like a menagerie of marine life, each one with its own verb: "Can you walk like a penguin?
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"Make an appointment with Margaret O. Hyde's Disease Book (1997) instead. (Nonfiction. 7-9)"
Working with a medical doctor, the prolific Ziefert embeds basic information on the causes and symptoms of colds, stomach- and headaches, zits, blisters, allergies, and other common maladies in a slurry of heavy-handed humor (the "purpose" of carsickness "is to spread vomit all over the back seat of the car, so that parents can learn a lesson about long, boring car rides!") and lame versified asides: "I have a little plantar wart / That goes everywhere with me. / It's quite happy on my foot / But I think it's UGH-a-lee!"
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"The only misstep is the telephone, a black number with a dial and a cord that children may not recognize at all. (Picture book. 3-6)"
Caldecott Medal-winner Taback wields a strong black line and vibrating color on each of these pages, where an object sits on a plain white background.
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"Beware: may cause rock-crafting urges in older siblings. (illustrator note) (Picture book. 2-4)"
Rocks with smaller-rock noses and painted-on eyes and mouths are nicely photographed and placed atop simply drawn bodies in this read-aloud for the nursery set.
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"Among the other excellent books available on the topic, this one lacks bones—it doesn't quite stand up. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-7)"
Ziefert provides a quick scan of the skeleton, organized along the old neck-bones-connected-to-the-shoulder-bone routine, with a lot of names of the bones, a few trivial asides—the topmost neck bone is called the Atlas, because it holds up the head—and not enough solid information.
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"Children will strongly identify with her dream, at the end of the long day, of her mother wrapping her in her arms on Christmas day. (Picture book. 4-8)"
Cohen's reds, greens, and blues practically glow, and the sharp black outlines that he lays on them, particularly to highlight the human characters, recall both children's drawings and the winning nonchalance of Ludwig Bemelmans.
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"An afterword offers interesting information about the Muscovey ducks that are so charmingly pictured. (Picture book. 2-5)"
When Farmer Donald removes 12 broken fence posts from the ground just before Mother Duck marches her 12 ducklings across the pasture, a gentle misadventure occurs.
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"Point out the 'Let's Read and Find Out' series to children who want to probe a bit deeper. (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-8)"
Aiming to raise the consciousnesses of newly fledged readers about their sensoria, the prolific Ziefert presents a breezy tally of basic facts about smell, touch, taste, hearing, and sight.
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"For those who like their Christmas sugarplums tart rather than sweet. (Board book. 1-6)"
The inverted logic of this patterned text by Ziefert (Halloween Has Boo, 2002, etc.) will be amusing to adult readers, but the humor may be lost on most of the traditional audience of the board book set.
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"Well, maybe, but there's no denying Murphy's charm, nor Ziefert's infectious, lighthearted spirit, which Bolam snares with her simple, rosy paintings. (Picture book. 4-8)"
Ziefert and Bolam (Clara Ann Cookie, Go to Bed, not reviewed, etc.) have combined their talents again to introduce Murphy, the burly yellow Labrador who loves to eat.
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"But the seductive art makes it more than worthwhile to explain. (Picture book. 4-6)"
Told from the unusual first-person point of view of a birdhouse, this picture book begins with the arresting announcement, "I am a birdhouse," over a picture of a birdhouse sporting a For Rent sign.
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"A piquant tale that will strike a chord with readers on both sides of the age divide. (Picture book. 2-5)"
In a wry tale of toddlerhood, young Louie, firmly engrossed in his own world, has a hard time aligning his wants in accordance with other's desires.
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"The deadpan delivery of Ziefert's pragmatic text, combined with Demarest's waggish illustrations, makes for a raucously funny tale and a rambunctious read-aloud. (Picture book. 4-8)"
"Children will enjoy poring over the illustrations of all the critters in this gentle and unique introduction to the creation story. (Picture book. 3-5)"
Ziefert (Hats Off for the Fourth of July!, see below, etc.) draws from a traditional African-American folktale by the same title to invoke the creation story from Genesis.
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"Though perhaps not up to Thatcher Hurd's Art Dog (1996), this cat displays a promising imagination, and young readers, whatever their artistic proclivities, will enjoy making his acquaintance. (Picture book. 5-7)"
Meet Elemenopeo, a chubby black-and-white cat who takes pride in being able to come and go as he pleases, but discovers a hidden talent when his cat door is closed for repairs.
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"Antique ads, photos, ticket stubs, newspaper clipping, and stamps pasted into the art augment the period of history in a grand story about a brave generation who won't soon be forgotten. (Picture book. 4-8)"
In a lighthearted look at the immigrant experience, Ziefert retells a cumulative 19th-century American poem that describes a cheerful man who comes to the US, buys a farm, sets up house, and makes a life.
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"This take on the new-baby situation is rendered in bright, flat gouache colors; there is a fair amount of humor in the illustrations and Saaf shows a nice command of visual pattern and repetition, full of child appeal. (Picture book. 3-7)"
Pushkin, a very personable white dog in a red sweater, loves his life, living with his people, Kate and Michael, on a quiet street, sharing their lives and sleeping in their bedroom.
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"It's just not much fun; the confines of the form, worked to such advantage by Minarik, Lobel, and Rylant (and Nola Buck—see review, above), make for a flat-footed telling here, and since most children know a version of the tale, there's no suspense to engage them. (Fiction/folklore. 4- 7)"
With beginning readers in mind, Ziefert (The Tweeny-Tiny Woman, 1995, etc.) retells the traditional story of the magic pot that won't stop cooking in this entry in the Easy-to-Read series.
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"For readers able and willing, try Paul Galdone's charmingly scary edition (1984). (Picture book/folklore. 5-7)"
This retelling of an old English ghost story is designated Level 2 in this publisher's Easy-to-Read series (the books at this level have so few words that they look more like small picture books than easy readers).
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"Although the spirited, goofy drawings in which all the children are presented as rabbits are partially redeeming, the overplayed message of this book is too didactic. (Picture book. 4+)"
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