A buoyant introduction to many different maritime pursuits.
Many types of working and pleasure craft are depicted in this humorous, straightforward picture book.
Curzon’s vibrantly colored illustrations bubble with plenty of detail, enough to help children recognize different boat types they may encounter on a trip to the ocean or harbor. The storyline progresses more or less through the day in different marine locations, from early morning, when fishing boats are starting out and dragon boats are “flying by,” to a gentle nighttime sailing scene. The view changes as the boats change, cycling through rolling waves, a festive beach tableau, underwater scenes as studied by divers from a research vessel and the crew of a submarine before culminating in the family depicted in the opening illustration, going to bed in their houseboat. This family is white; the crews of the various boats include some people of color. Rosenbaum’s text consists of easy, rolling rhymes, with plenty of descriptive language to conjure up the scene: “Sunlight sizzles, hot and bright”; boats “rise and fall in liquid motion”; Salty breezes. / Seagulls squalling.” There’s plenty of engaging visual detail, including a spread in which the signal flag alphabet is shown and the flags on two boats spell out the book’s title.
A buoyant introduction to many different maritime pursuits. (picture glossary) (Picture book. 4-6)Pub Date: March 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-53411-041-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
The book’s simplicity guarantees achievement for beginning readers.
Two kids, probably siblings, explore their surrounding world through magnification.
While the older one remains inside with a microscope, the younger prefers the outside, examining all with a large hand-held magnifying glass. “I see,” the kid declares, focusing on several insects and animals while peering through the glass. A large, blue-black ant grins up through the glass as the child states, “I see an ant.” A butterfly, a snail, and robins’ eggs similarly appear through the glass, all narrated in the short, patterned text. Arriving home with discoveries crawling and flapping behind, the explorer now declares, “We see,” to the older child. The minimalist text is perfect for emerging readers, allowing children the ability to successfully read a whole book. Each repetitive sentence with its additional new word is coupled with recognizable picture cues to help in decoding. Cepeda’s characteristically energetic artwork offers sharp-edged, jagged lines that give it a scratch-art look. The siblings are dressed nearly identically, in blue shorts and red polo shirts, and they have tousled brown hair, beige skin, and big smiles.
The book’s simplicity guarantees achievement for beginning readers. (Picture book/early reader. 4-6)Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4504-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
A London-based art director and illustrator delivers a jazz-inspired effort whose snappy illustrations can’t redeem its wobbly logic. Hip cat Max loses a note while composing a song. After looking everywhere at home, he widens his search by visiting musical friends. Though the singing Felines, saxophonist Dexter, trumpeter Miles and others (cats, all) deliver gorgeous tunes, Max doesn’t hear his lost note among theirs. Back home, Max spots his note, stuck to the sole of a kicked-off loafer. “He must have trodden on it while he was writing his new tune.” Marsh fails to discriminate between the visual and aural manifestations of musical notes. Black notes pepper nearly every spread, dancing from horns and surrounding birds in hep, funky streetscapes. Yet the search propelling Max from flutist to bassist is one of intent listening—making the switch back to that stuck-on, two-dimensional note all the more lead-footed. Jazz’s ability to delight comes across via bright ink-and-watercolor pictures that offer kid-appealing details, but an omnipresent, curiously despondent mouse dampens the effect. Disappointingly discordant. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-84507-972-7
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2010
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