Sing this untraditional alphabet song out loud to older preschoolers who are confident in their knowledge of the alphabet...
“Twinkle, twinkle, ABC, / A mixed-up, mashed-up melody. / A twinkly star, an alphabet, / Just how silly can we get?”
Saltzberg brings together two familiar rhymes that share a tune—“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and the alphabet song—in a whimsical poem that encourages children to get up and move. “On a tightrope in the air, / Growl, GRRR, like you’re a bear! // Play a banjo on your knee, / HIJKLMNOP.” Letters of the alphabet float around in large, colorful display type, sometimes making it difficult to guess whether they are part of the song or part of the illustrations. Three kids delightedly frolic through the rhyme in vibrant, colorful cartoon illustrations outlined in thin black lines. The largest child has red hair and a fluorescent green face and wears a cowboy hat with a feather in it; the middle one has light brown hair in pigtails and a blue face and wears a dress. The littlest one has an orange face, blue-black curly, short hair and wears yellow footed pajamas. They dance with brio through various verses of this imaginative song with a trio of animal companions before falling asleep under the stars. “Twinkle, twinkle, ABC // A mixed-up, mashed-up, zzzzzz.”
Sing this untraditional alphabet song out loud to older preschoolers who are confident in their knowledge of the alphabet and will appreciate this creative and quirky “mixed-up, mashed-up jamboree!” (Board book. 4-6)Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7148-7507-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Phaidon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
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
Unrealistic in several ways but good at least for sniggers, this follow-up to Bear in Underwear (2010) features plenty of views of Bear on the soccer pitch clad in nothing below the waist but undies. The tighty whities of the previous episode give way to dinky pinkies after Bear washes them with his red jersey, but since they’re his lucky underwear he bears the continuing mockery of the opposing squad—“You look like a girl!” “You stink and your shorts are pink!” etc.—to score the winning goal. Not only do the losers change their opinion (“Wow, pink’s alright!”), but Bear’s own team members all don pink BVDs in solidarity: “Pink isn’t yucky! It’s super cool and super lucky!” While there is some charm to the notion of a soccer team that includes a beaver, a hedgehog and Big Foot, it isn't enough to sustain a whole lot of investment on the part of young readers. Logically minded children will wonder why Bear’s lucky (and still-white—this is before the laundry tragedy) undies are the only things gleaming white as Bear and his teammates stand, "covered in mud, including Bear and his lucky underwear." A sliding panel on the front cover that drops Bear’s shorts with the pull of a tab is the high (low) point of this dismal one-joker. (Picture book. 4-6)
Pub Date: April 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60905-077-1
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Blue Apple
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2011
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