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AVA'S SPECTACULAR SPECTACLES

Name: AVA'S SPECTACULAR SPECTACLES
Author: Alice Rex
ISBN: 978-1-61067-712-7

by Alice Rex ; illustrated by Angela Perrini ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2018

Clever, but a few smudges will keep readers from seeing this with 20/20 vision (spectacles or not).

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Ava works out her love-hate relationship with her specs in this Australian import with a fairy-tale twist.

Sans glasses, Ava is miserable in class. It isn’t long before her teacher, Mrs. Cook, takes notice. As it turns out, Ava didn’t forget her glasses; she hid them in her schoolbag because she hates them. Mrs. Cook uses the teachable moment to reimagine fairy tales in a pro-glasses light. For instance, if Little Red Riding Hood had just put on glasses, wouldn’t she have seen the wolf’s teeth and eyes? Wouldn’t Humpty Dumpty have stayed on the wall? Wouldn’t Little Bo-Peep have kept her sheep? After each new story, Ava’s confidence grows. She eventually puts the glasses on and—voilà!—she can see again. Perrini’s digitally colored pencil drawings offer large illustrations and a limited but effective color palette. The art takes a metafictive turn by depicting the fairy-tale scenes in panels, while Ava and Mrs. Cook comment from outside the frame. Though there is some diversity among Ava’s classroom peers, all the fairy-tale characters appear to be white. Moreover, without sufficient character development (why so much hate for glasses?), the book veers into didactic territory, and Ava becomes a plot device.

Clever, but a few smudges will keep readers from seeing this with 20/20 vision (spectacles or not). (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: March 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-61067-712-7

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Kane Miller

Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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GABI'S IF/THEN GARDEN

by Caroline Karanja ; illustrated by Ben Whitehouse ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2018

An accessible but somewhat underdeveloped introduction to coding for the younger set.

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If it’s 2018, then the kids must be coding.

This bright and cheery picture book introduces young readers to coding concepts through garden planting and backyard play. Two girls named Adi and Gabi learn about if/then statements through naturally occurring conditions and outcomes, such as: “If the weather is dry, then they water the plants.” Karanja touches lightly on what happens when the computer is not given the right instructions with a Simon Says–like game and progresses to a playful explanation of debugging. Exercises help readers test their understanding, and a glossary explains the computer science terms. While the author’s approach is simple and easy to understand, it seems like an odd choice to start with conditional statements without mentioning more basic concepts such as breaking down big tasks into smaller steps, sequencing instructions, etc. The treatment of conditionals is itself incomplete since “else” statements are never mentioned. And without the scaffolding of a real problem that needs solving, the concepts carry little weight. Adi and her mother are brown-skinned with dark curls, while Gabi has lighter skin and straight hair.

An accessible but somewhat underdeveloped introduction to coding for the younger set. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5158-3445-8

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Picture Window Books

Review Posted Online: June 10, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018

Categories:

CHILDREN'S GENERAL CHILDREN'S

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THERE'S A DRAGON IN YOUR BOOK

From the Who's in Your Book? series

by Tom Fletcher ; illustrated by Greg Abbott ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 4, 2018

A fun story with plenty of little-kid appeal.

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A freshly-hatched dragon causes pyrotechnic trouble in this equally interactive follow-up to There’s a Monster in Your Book (2017).

A purple egg is about to hatch. “Whatever you do, don’t turn the page…,” you’re warned. But of course you do, and a baby dragon hatches. She’s quite cute, but when you tickle her nose she sneezes, lighting a tiny fire that you’re exhorted to put out. The tiny fire leads to more, and the narrator tells you to “use your imagination to put out the fire,” leading to a water balloon, a flood, a treat for the hungry baby dragon, and a book-flapping goodbye—before the book ends with a gently ominous clutch of more purple eggs. While clearly similar to the earlier title, this storyline is a bit more contrived and less emotional than the original—telling readers to imagine a specific solution seems forced, and the “yummy” ice cream interlude feels like an unnecessary departure from the plot, pandering to children’s appetites. Still, the cute dragon is sure to appeal, and the various points of fourth-wall breakage (blowing on fires, flapping the pages like wings) will make for an energetic and laugh-filled read-aloud, either with a group or one-on-one.

A fun story with plenty of little-kid appeal. (Picture book. 3-7)