Excellent for stimulating creative-thinking, art, and writing activities.
A cat gazes in wonderment at the world outside.
Wide-eyed, blue-collared, brown-and-black Inside Cat (who looks like a sinuous set of scribbles with pointy ears and large, googly eyes) peers from numerous windows in its large city dwelling. What sights there are to behold as Inside Cat leisurely, repeatedly “Wanders. Wonders” around, looking out of windows square, round, thin, wide, and otherwise diverse in shape, size, color, and/or spatial arrangement. From assorted vantage points, Inside Cat views fascinating people, objects, creatures, and activities. If Inside Cat has only a partial understanding of what it sees (“fluffy rats” are squirrels; “roaring flies” are helicopters), it fills in the scenes with imaginary details that, delightfully, appear in pale lines on the white interior walls surrounding the windows. Inside Cat explores the world via window on every floor of its house so regularly that it knows all there is to know about the world inside and out. But…don’t be surprised when the final, full-color page leaves you breathless—as it does our protagonist; one wonders why this feline remained indoors so long. This delicious charmer, told in simple, rhythmically lilting verse as light-footed as a cat, develops vocabulary and reinforces basic concepts like shape and size, directional and spatial relationships. The wonderful, loose illustrations were created with mixed media, each employed expertly to delineate the varied perspectives presented all at one time.
Excellent for stimulating creative-thinking, art, and writing activities. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7319-1
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
The familiar singsong repetitiveness is catchy in all settings, holiday or otherwise.
A hoppy, snappy Easter version of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
Three young tots, with varied skin tones and baskets ready in their hands, eagerly scamper on a spring day to find some eggs. But of course, they meet hindrances along the way. “Ooh, look … // Chickens! / Flapping, pecking chickens.” Thus starts the rolling refrain: “Can’t go over them. / Can’t go under them. / Can’t go around them. // Got to go through them!” The waddling chickens don’t pose much of an obstacle, but they do “Cluck-cluck!” loudly as they scatter in the sun. The three youngsters then must face “fluffy, hungry bunnies” (adorable long-eared puffballs with carrot fronds in their mouths) and “happy, hopping frogs” as they balance on stones to cross a pond. All of this leads to a garden bursting with colorful flowers (“Rustle-swish! / Rustle-swish!”) and finally…10 eggs in pastel patterns. Each egg has a number on it to encourage readers to count along and strengthen their numeracy skills. Rozelaar’s plump and rounded world, with roly-poly trees, flowers, and hills, wraps the tale in coziness.
The familiar singsong repetitiveness is catchy in all settings, holiday or otherwise. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9798887771304
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Nosy Crow
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
Team Becker and Denton has again succeeded in creating a book that keeps the attention of young readers and makes them smile.
In a series of scenes both silly and gently humorous, the ever persistent Mouse works hard to persuade gruff-but-lovable bear to become a library user.
“One morning, Bear heard a tap-tap-tapping on his door.” Readers already familiar with the series will recognize this inviting opener, as well as the arrival of Mouse, always “small and gray and bright-eyed.” The use of this familiar introduction works well for beginning readers, who then learn that this time, Bear’s trademark conservatism makes him balk at the idea of visiting a library. After all, he is sure that “he had all the books he would ever need.” Children will love the arbitrary nature of his collection of seven titles: kings and queens, honeybees and “one about pickles.” When Bear has finally been persuaded to go to the library—holding Mouse in a basket as he races there strapped into red roller skates—he continues to be cantankerous in the stacks. The librarian—the solitary human among assorted critters—plays a part in Bear’s latest behavior modification. Although modern libraries are seldom anymore the silent sanctuaries seen within this stately edifice, excellent text and layout combine with friendly illustrations to set the newest generation of readers laughing at the well-worn joke of someone bellowing for quiet in the library.
Team Becker and Denton has again succeeded in creating a book that keeps the attention of young readers and makes them smile. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: July 22, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4924-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2014
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