The frolicsome verse and efficacious design combine to highlight a precise exercise, making this concept picture book a...
This jaunty rhyme set in a school playground serves as a playful introduction to the mathematical concept of doubling.
Jill and Jake, monkey friends, join their other animal classmates at recess to gallop, race, climb, jump rope, kick ball and blow bubbles, while coupling their playtime antics with matching addition equations. When they hang from the monkey bars “with just their knees, / they grip the bars. / They’re upside-downside / circus stars,” proving “2 knees + 2 knees = 4 knees.” Children accustomed to the play-to-learn environment of today’s curriculum will cheerily join in the fun with this precursor to multiplication that extends the math lesson to the pleasures of physical activity. Full-bleed double-page watercolor spreads offer a variety of playground scenes, each with a different equation to encompass the doubling sums of the numerals 1-10. Children will easily grasp the concept of mathematical equations as they readily count items clearly depicted in each scene and offered on the endpapers.
The frolicsome verse and efficacious design combine to highlight a precise exercise, making this concept picture book a twofold success. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: July 12, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-58246-384-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tricycle
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dog lovers and young Dr. Moreaus alike will guffaw.
Split pages allow mixing and matching sections of 10 purebred canines.
Forget cockapoos and labradoodles—flipping the three segments here back and forth makes for some truly unlikely hybrids: “I’m a Bulldog— / Yorkshire Terrier— / Great Dane mix”; “I’m a Komondor— / Greyhound— / Poodle mix”; “I’m a Dachshund— / Shar-Pei— / Dalmatian mix.” Ball (Flip-O-Storic, 2011) cranks up the drollery with a set of big, handsome pooches drawn and colored to set off their distinctive characteristics, posed naturalistically against plain yellow backgrounds, and looking up or out with doggy devotion. She also adds the occasional tail-pulling puppy, silly hat, or other comical side business. In addition to the identifying captions, Garczynski contributes a table of descriptive information about each breed at the beginning. This includes to-scale silhouettes that are helpful since all of the interior dogs are rendered the same size so that the transitions more or less match up. (Although the Yorkie’s stubby forelegs still make a peculiar mismatch with the lanky hind limbs of the Great Dane.) Also, each sturdy strip features a “personal” observation, such as the Dalmatian’s “I’m known for my distinctive spots. If I open my mouth, you’ll even see spots in there.” Aside from the note of condescension in the Shar-Pei’s claim that its tongue “was once thought to ward off evil spirits,” these last are at least innocuous and sometimes informative.
Dog lovers and young Dr. Moreaus alike will guffaw. (Novelty picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-7892-1310-5
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Abbeville Kids
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
After a promising start, this autumnal offering ultimately disappoints.
Change is on the horizon for a trio of leaves at home in the branches of various trees in a park.
When the air grows chilly, Birch, Oak, and Maple all experience different emotions. Birch is optimistic and expectant, Oak is cautious and reluctant, and obstinate Maple feels left out as the other leaves change colors but she doesn’t. Illustrations rendered in acrylic gouache, colored pencil, and collage depict endearingly anthropomorphized leaves, with autumnal colors that pop. As the leaves learn more about fall from a pair of knowledgeable squirrels, Maple’s slow change to red is overshadowed by her impatience to join her friends. It’s only when she pulls herself free that she learns about the downside of fall—namely, the bottoms of boots, rain gutters, and rakes. Much like the shift from the bright crisp early days of autumn to the damp cold ones later in the season, it’s here that the story changes, going from a surprisingly nuanced examination of growth to something fluffy and less interesting. A young girl with straight black hair and tan skin finds the fallen leaves and takes them home, where she draws them as anthropomorphic characters, and all discussion of the importance of change is lost. Caregivers looking for a springboard to a discussion about growing up and the uncertainty of change may find this useful, but its sputtering ending detracts from its early momentum. Maybe next year will bring a more promising crop of leaves. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
After a promising start, this autumnal offering ultimately disappoints. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-358-41945-7
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2022
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