Here’s hoping more Everything Goes board books are en route.
A delightfully playful exploration of vehicles and opposites.
The usual opposite suspects are presented in one-word captions (slow/fast; up/down), but the vehicles are the true stars here. Biggs is a master at drawing quirky cars, trains, trucks and even unicycles that will appeal to wheel-obsessed youngsters and their grown-ups alike. The “Small / Big” page is a prime example of his humor, depicting a teeny compact car being overtaken by an enormous 18-wheeler bearing the words “MAXI Truck Lines.” The concepts are clearly presented, and art pops against bold backgrounds. The companion title, Everything Goes: 1 2 3 Beep Beep Beep!: A Counting Book, is equally energetic and enjoyable. One bus, two RVs, three fire trucks and more count their way up to 10. The endeavor ends on a page depicting a motley assortment of vehicles halted by a sole chicken crossing the road with accompanying text “1 BIG traffic jam!” While the oversize hardcover titles in the Everything Goes series also have strong toddler appeal, these board books have all of the enchantment of Biggs’ cartoons in a smaller, more accessible package.
Here’s hoping more Everything Goes board books are en route. (Board book. 18 mos.-3)Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-195813-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Equal parts art and riddle and sophisticated in content and tone, this board book takes readers in unexpected directions....
With its opening words: “One of these things is almost like the others,” this striking, near-wordless book challenges readers to identify which object among a set of vehicles does not quite belong.
Composed of magenta, vibrant blue, and dark-purple stenciled images, the stylized vehicles and one imposter pop off each double-page spread, contrasting luminously with the white background. Thick cardboard pages with a silky texture and a slightly oversize trim add to the luxurious feel. Contraire has done a phenomenal job making the “sneaks” look so similar—who would have thought a honeybee could look so incredibly at home in a collection of helicopters? Each clever choice of misplaced object provokes thoughtful discussion on categorization. The artist plays with scale by placing an oversized baby stroller in a group of trucks, asking readers to puzzle out that while all have wheels and provide transport, one lacks a motor. A few pages aren’t so much brain teasers as they are whimsical fun, with an incongruent caterpillar inching along beside rows of trains or a toaster hidden among buses. The endpapers provide an answer key, a satisfying touch that ties the book together.
Equal parts art and riddle and sophisticated in content and tone, this board book takes readers in unexpected directions. Readers will want this book to “sneak” into their collections. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7148-7516-3
Page Count: 26
Publisher: Phaidon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Toddlers will instantly identify with this simply adorable little hero as he rolls through life.
A day in the life of a little pink truck.
Little Truck travels fast and climbs hills, accompanied by a salmon-colored larger truck, likely a caregiver stand-in. This flatbed truck follows Little Truck, giving him a boost up a hill, and after Little Truck goes into a tunnel and becomes lost for a couple of page turns, he emerges fast asleep on the back of the larger truck. Each double-page spread depicts a scene from Little Truck’s journey and is accompanied by one to three sentences of simple text, which often reads as if the bigger truck were speaking with Little Truck. Gomi’s signature style is in top form here. All this master uses to create the bodies of the trucks are squares, rectangles, and circles, adding dots and dashes to create eyes, mouths, and rosy cheeks to give them personality. The deliberately sparse backgrounds of tawny browns, tans, and deep grays allow the trucks visually to pop off the page. That this little pink truck is explicitly given the masculine pronoun is a delightful, gender-norm–busting detail.
Toddlers will instantly identify with this simply adorable little hero as he rolls through life. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: April 3, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4521-6300-0
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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