Bagert offers recitation poetry for the very young. In 21 poems, tight rhythmic verse and busy colorful pictures (in acrylics and pastel on illustration board) cover various aspects of a young child’s life. For example, “Kids Rule!” races through a school day; “Snack Time” lists many edible possibilities, ending verses with “Yummy, Yummy!”; “Alphabet Boogie” sasses up that old “A, B, C” song; and “Finger Paints” runs through multiple options for the fledgling tactile artist. In fact, most of these repetitive poems seem tailor-made for setting to music. Yoshikawa’s illustrations all use a wide variety of bright colors, and several depict children in typical (hyper) activity. What Bagert lacks in creativity, he makes up for in accessibility and energy. School-age children might not be engaged, but their younger siblings will want to repeat their favorites over and over. (Picture book. 2-5)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2007
ISBN: 0-8037-2972-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2006
Similar to Lenny Hort’s Seals on the Bus, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (2000), this treatment populates the bus with a...
Cabrera continues to adapt nursery rhymes and children’s songs (Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, 2010, etc.) into interactive picture books for the young preschool set, here taking on that beloved bus ride.
Similar to Lenny Hort’s Seals on the Bus, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (2000), this treatment populates the bus with a menagerie of African animals ranging from the common lion and zebra to lesser-known flamingos and bush babies. Most animals make a trio of sounds, like the monkeys’ “Chatter, chatter, chatter” or the hyena’s “Ha, ho, hee,” but on occasion there is action: The chameleon “plays Hide-and-seek.” The tale ends as the giraffe driver delivers the wild riders to a watering hole with a satisfying “SPLISH! SPLASH! SPLOSH! All day long!” Readers will enjoy the journey Cabrera illustrates with her easily recognizable style—bright hues outlined in black, with a finger-paint–like texture.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2350-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Yuletide fun for the youngest ones.
A familiar children’s song gets a Christmas-carol reboot.
A title-page map highlights various locations in a North Pole village, including Santa’s house and a toy workshop. The ensuing pages, however, focus less on locale than they do on the passengers on a Christmassy bus driven by St. Nick himself. “Let’s ride the bus on Christmas Eve, / Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve. / Let’s ride the bus on Christmas Eve— / who will we find inside?” Each verse features a different group of passengers with accompanying illustrations showing them riding this bus. First elves (pleasingly depicted with a range of racial presentations) go “Let’s make toys!” then reindeer go “Jingle! Jingle! Jingle!” snowmen go “Brr! Brr! Brr!” and so on. (In a particularly silly touch, sentient cookies with tiny arms and legs go, “Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!”) The busy, serviceable cartoon scenes don’t show riders getting on and off, and the bus’s interior seems magically cavernous as compared to illustrations of its exterior. The book concludes with a magical scene of the bus taking flight, the reindeer no longer passengers but harnessed to its front bumper and pulling it upward through the stars. Where are they going? “NEXT STOP: YOUR HOUSE!” reads knockout type against the dark blue sky.
Yuletide fun for the youngest ones. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-17485-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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