A monstrously effective lid-dropper.
Why count sheep when an alphabetical array of monsters is queued up to crawl under the bed?
Lying wakeful in his moonlit bedroom, the pale-skinned lad from the I Need My Monster series begins with “A…is for Arms.” This cues the entry of a multilimbed, popeyed, purple-striped yellow creature at the head of a parade of blobby, slobbery boojums as wildly diverse of shape as they are saturated of hue. It’s almost a pity this book is codex bound instead of concertina folded, as careful design finds elements from the right edge of one double-page spread continuing on to the left edge of the next. The green-furred, horned monster on an early spread is revealed to have a long, spiked tail after the turn of the page, for instance, and the substance dripping from the many noses of a blue, finned creature makes quite the trail of bright pink ooze across the following spread. Readers will enjoy flipping back and forth to see the contiguity. Being all smiles and more likely to elicit snorts of amusement than screams of terror, the monstrous marchers crawling, oozing, slithering, or strolling into and out of view with each page turn have the intended soporific effect. As the alphabet progresses, the lines of narrative become more and more…stretched…out…until a final “Y…is…for…Yawn…and…Z……is for…” signal mission accomplished. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A monstrously effective lid-dropper. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-947277-49-6
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flashlight Press
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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
A sweet and subtle book on sharing.
Rudy’s pink sweater is missing. Readers are invited to follow him as he searches for the sweater.
Rudy is a blue creature with a piggy snout, bunny ears, a thin, tufted tail, and a distraught look on his face. His beloved pink sweater is gone. “It was a bit too small and showed his belly button. But it was his favorite.” Where could it be? In a search that doubles as a countdown from 10 to one, Rudy makes his way through the different rooms of the house—top to bottom, inside and outside. As readers open the wardrobe door, “TEN tumbling cats” provide the first hint as to the sweater’s whereabouts. Following the pink yarn that runs across the pages, readers encounter some surprising creatures in each location—including a crocodile sitting in an outhouse busily knitting—as well as flaps to open and die cuts to peek through. Just as he’s about to give up hope—someone must’ve taken it, but “who would love wearing it as much as he did?”—the answer is revealed: “Trudy! His number ONE sister. The sweater fit her perfectly.” And, as is the nature of stories with a happy ending, Rudy gets a new sweater that fits him, from the knitting crocodile, of course. Plot, interactivity, vocabulary, and counting all contribute in making this an engaging book for the upper edge of the board-book range.
A sweet and subtle book on sharing. (Board book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3679-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: Nov. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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