An amiable-enough combination of tactile elements and problem-solving practice.
Take a tour through an urban environment by following variously shaped tracks.
In this book with a little bit of everything, readers can manipulate flaps and touch debossed areas and die cuts. The left-hand page poses the question “Who is making tracks?” along with a shaped, indented track. Little fingers can touch and follow the various paths; folding out the flap on the right side reveals what hidden animal, person, or vehicle made the print. It’s a simple concept that invites plenty of audience participation as toddlers use clues to make guesses about the track’s origin. This simplicity extends to the minimal, stylized art. Chunky, rounded, collage-style illustrations with no shading or outlining are effective enough, if on the garish side, with a typical page showing a plump gray mouse running atop a matte violet background while a few golden dandelions and the lime-green mouseprints round out the page. Two human children appear. Both have dark skin, and one is a wheelchair-basketball player. Shaped flaps are solid and easy enough to fold out, though confusingly, while some of the die cuts provide clues, such as a bicycle sign near a single-lined tire track, others, like the oval, yellow center of a red-petaled flower, are cryptic. The series also travels to the Desert, Jungle, and Mountain.
An amiable-enough combination of tactile elements and problem-solving practice. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-78628-414-3
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Child's Play
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
A teeming presentation of underwater life that will likely satisfy active fish fans but overwhelm less-committed readers.
Little ones can learn fish facts by lifting sturdy flaps.
Each page is a busy mélange of stock photos of fish framed in thick lines and bright colors. Flat cartoon art, in the wide-eyed style many PBS viewers will recognize, decorates the edges of the page. One- or two-sentence captions in bright text boxes share simple facts on the verso: “The reef is full of colorful fish. The parrotfish munches algae that grows on coral.” On the recto, a partial thought is shared, with a surprising completion of that thought under a heavy-duty flap: “Even though they are called goldfish… / they can be black, white, orange, or multicolored!” Green-skinned cartoon PBS Kids offer quips via speech bubbles, making jokes that may go over most toddlers’ heads; “Can this pup fetch?” asks one in reference to a shark pup. Fish-loving youngsters will likely see some of their favorite creatures here: sharks, clown fish, and seahorses. Many of the photos are ill-served by the busy layout and compact trim size, but the flaps are the sturdiest in the business and will likely survive vigorous play and exploration.
A teeming presentation of underwater life that will likely satisfy active fish fans but overwhelm less-committed readers. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68052-936-4
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Cottage Door Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
More tribute than tour, but diapered viewers, Bronxers or not, will respond to the bright colors and faces.
A photographer born and resident in the Bronx offers glimpses of his borough’s places and people.
Rivera styles himself “The Bronxer” on his website and social media. Though only some of the captions (“Bruckner Orange,” “174th Violet”) place his eight sunny but generic outdoor scenes in any specific locale, still the cute young children of color in most of them supply plenty of charisma. In a bilingual narrative on each recto, equally generic English lines over Spanish highlight colors in the facing photo with changes of hue: “We buy tamales from the green cart. / Compramos tamales del carrito verde.” An intrusive white Polaroid-style frame collaged into each photo serves no evident purpose beyond framing one element of the composition and supplying a place for a caption, brand emblem, and an ID number. This gives this board-book minigallery a commercial feel…but it’s never a bad thing to celebrate the fact that there’s more to New York City’s northerly reaches than a zoo and a baseball stadium.
More tribute than tour, but diapered viewers, Bronxers or not, will respond to the bright colors and faces. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-11078-2
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
