A silly, sassy, subversive alternative to standard letters primers.
Zachary’s fun-focused ABCs picture book matches letters of the alphabet to giggle-worthy words.
English-speaking children the world over learn that “A” is for “apple.” The first page of this alphabet primer acknowledges this paradigm, presenting a capital “A” in an apple-colored, large-outline font next to an apparent grade-school drawing of an apple. This sample picture is itself being held by a lavender-furred, floppy-eared critter whose mock-serious demeanor belies its brewing, near-bursting reserves of irreverence. One turn of the page reveals the gap-toothed creature shaking its bottom at the reader, proclaiming that “B” is for “BUM BUM!” A few more mundane examples follow (including “cat” and “dog”), but they’re just a setup as the presentation turns into a mischievous show and tell of such kid-pleasing exemplars as “FART!,” “SNOTTY!,” “TOILET!,” and “UNDERWEAR!” Zachary brings a freewheeling frivolity to the staid world of ABC books; some of the entries (“W is for WEDGIE!!”) seem aimed at an audience older than those just learning to read. Letters with no obvious taboo word are given an alliterative treatment (“LOVELY LARGE LOLIPOP!”) by Gordine’s roguishly expressive cartoon creature. The book’s layout is brilliantly sparse, with each letter afforded a two-page spread, of which only the right-hand page is ever used…except in the case of the joyous pièce de résistance: “P is for…POOP!!!”
A silly, sassy, subversive alternative to standard letters primers.Pub Date: March 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781738705832
Page Count: 61
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer.
Rotner follows up her celebrations of spring and autumn with this look at all things winter.
Beginning with the signs that winter is coming—bare trees, shorter days, colder temperatures—Rotner eases readers into the season. People light fires and sing songs on the solstice, trees and plants stop growing, and shadows grow long. Ice starts to form on bodies of water and windows. When the snow flies, the fun begins—bundle up and then build forts, make snowballs and snowmen (with eyebrows!), sled, ski (nordic is pictured), skate, snowshoe, snowboard, drink hot chocolate. Animals adapt to the cold as well. “Birds grow more feathers” (there’s nothing about fluffing and air insulation) and mammals, more hair. They have to search for food, and Rotner discusses how many make or find shelter, slow down, hibernate, or go underground or underwater to stay warm. One page talks about celebrating holidays with lights and decorations. The photos show a lit menorah, an outdoor deciduous tree covered in huge Christmas bulbs, a girl next to a Chinese dragon head, a boy with lit luminarias, and some fireworks. The final spread shows signs of the season’s shift to spring. Rotner’s photos, as always, are a big draw. The children are a marvelous mix of cultures and races, and all show their clear delight with winter.
A solid addition to Rotner’s seasonal series. Bring on summer. (Informational picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3976-8
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit.
The bubble-helmeted feline explains what rockets do and the role they have played in sending people (and animals) into space.
Addressing a somewhat younger audience than in previous outings (Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, 2013, etc.), Astro Cat dispenses with all but a light shower of “factoroids” to describe how rockets work. A highly selective “History of Space Travel” follows—beginning with a crew of fruit flies sent aloft in 1947, later the dog Laika (her dismal fate left unmentioned), and the human Yuri Gagarin. Then it’s on to Apollo 11 in 1969; the space shuttles Discovery, Columbia, and Challenger (the fates of the latter two likewise elided); the promise of NASA’s next-gen Orion and the Space Launch System; and finally vague closing references to other rockets in the works for local tourism and, eventually, interstellar travel. In the illustrations the spacesuited professor, joined by a mouse and cat in similar dress, do little except float in space and point at things. Still, the art has a stylish retro look, and portraits of Sally Ride and Guion Bluford diversify an otherwise all-white, all-male astronaut corps posing heroically or riding blocky, geometric spacecraft across starry reaches.
Energetic enough to carry younger rocketeers off the launch pad if not into a very high orbit. (glossary) (Informational picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-911171-55-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Flying Eye Books
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2018
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