Go, dogs! Go? This book kicks it up a notch. Drive, dogs! Drive!
A rainbow of brightly colored vehicles brings this newest entry in the I Like To Read series to Technicolor life.
Cars, trucks, boats, buses, and more are on wild display in this peppy, easy book. In each double-page spread, one type of transportation presents itself in wild array. The “Cars go” page, for example, yields one finned roadster with a Starry Night–esque paint job, some that seem dipped in every possible hue, and a couple on the subtler end that just sport a single color. The art shows swirls, spots, splats, patterns, and gentle color gradations. The same treatment is applied to the other vehicles, most driven by dogs (the fire engines have all-Dalmatian crews, natch) in various attitudes of glee that communicate easily despite the cartoon simplicity of their renderings. In one double-page wordless display, all of the vehicles come to a screeching “Stop” (signaled on the page before) when a family of ducklings crosses with mama in the lead. Everyone safe? Then “Go. Go. Go.” The sheer energy contained in these images guarantees that children just starting to read will be as floored by the artwork as they are by the sweet rides. Though ideal for the earliest of readers, the subject material found here is bound to appeal to pre-reading vehicular enthusiasts as well.
Go, dogs! Go? This book kicks it up a notch. Drive, dogs! Drive! (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Nov. 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-8234-4643-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.
You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!
What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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So sweet it’ll have readers heading for their toothbrushes.
Another entry in the how-much-I-love-you genre.
The opening spread shows a blue elephant-and-child pair, the child atop the adult, white hearts arcing between their uplifted trunks: “You’re a gift and a blessing in every way. / I love you more each and every day.” From there, the adult elephant goes on to tell the child how they are loved more than all sorts of things, some rhyming better than others: “I love you more than all the spaghetti served in Rome, // and more than each and every dog loves her bone.” More than stars, fireflies, “all the languages spoken in the world,” “all the dancers that have ever twirled,” all the kisses ever given and miles ever driven, “all the adventures you have ahead,” and “all the peanut butter and jelly spread on bread!” Representative of all the world’s languages are “I love you” in several languages (with no pronunciation help): English, Sioux, French, German, Swahili, Spanish, Hawaiian, Chinese, and Arabic (these two last in Roman characters only). Bold colors and simple illustrations with no distracting details keep readers’ focus on the main ideas. Dashed lines give the artwork (and at least one word on every spread) the look of 2-D sewn toys.
So sweet it’ll have readers heading for their toothbrushes. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Dec. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4926-8398-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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