Little ones may be drawn to the sparkly foil of the faux screen cover, but the programming inside is industry standard.
This laptop-shaped offering (it opens from top to bottom after the release of a Velcro closure) introduces tots to colors, numbers, shapes, and opposites.
Bip, Bop, and Boo, a stuffed cat, elephant, and monkey respectively, appear in each section to suggest an activity (“Bip asks, ‘What shapes do you see?’ ”) via speech bubble. All but one of the four double-page spreads have flaps for readers to lift, but unfortunately they are too flimsy to withstand robust interaction. There is also a spin dial on two pages as well as sliding panels on another; all are relatively easy to manipulate. While the concepts are presented clearly enough (the book is part of the Skills for Starting School series), some of the images are a little too small for counting or easy identification. Bip, Bop, and Boo are fairly endearing characters, but the illustrations are a haphazard mishmash of what looks to be clip art and stock photography. The handle at the top is a toddler-friendly touch.
Little ones may be drawn to the sparkly foil of the faux screen cover, but the programming inside is industry standard. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4654-5129-3
Page Count: 10
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
Without a consistent child's voice, this runway romp fizzles.
A young fashionista's play proves less inspired than her posh designs.
Imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery for this daughter, as Birdie plays dress-up in her mother's stylish attire. She twirls in princess dresses, adopts a movie-star identity in sunglasses and teeters in stilettos. Her little white pooch, Monster, serves as a stylish sidekick, even posing as a hat-stand for one of her mama's beautiful, two-toned accessories. Birdie's fashion-conscious mother, never viewed face-on, showcases her sense of daring design with mile-high shoes and slim, crossed legs. Though the book seems initially to be a light trip into dressing-up, Birdie's childlike exuberance veers abruptly into contrived self-awareness. “But there's nothing better than just being me!” The stylish design features splashes of paint and tissue-paper ribbons; a cutout Birdie pops in her exaggerated high heels on the fashion-forward cover. Textured accents and varied patterns highlight the finest form of fashion.
Without a consistent child's voice, this runway romp fizzles. (Board book. 2-3)Pub Date: April 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-316-20111-7
Page Count: 14
Publisher: LB Kids/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Two one-dimensional detection cases of the sort that seem to be proliferating. These feature the Bloodhound Gang of TV's 3-2-1 Contact. In The Case of the Cackling Ghost, Professor Bloodhound's three young employees—ages 10, 15, and 16—are summoned to a large country house, where an old woman is bothered by nightly visits from a ghost. The ghost, the trio soon discovers, is really clumps of moths attracted by pheromones—an illusion cooked up by the woman's debt-ridden nephew who hopes to frighten her into turning over her precious, but reputedly curse-ridden necklace. In . . . Princess Tomrorow, the gang is called as witnesses for a shady couple who pretend to predict horse-race results—but the corroborating letter received by the agency has actually been mailed after the race. The one they witnessed being mailed before the race has been invalidated by a wet but deliberately glueless postage stamp. They're both clever tricks, but of a sort that usually come five or ten to a volume. There's no attempt to flesh out the puzzles, and not a trace of the Fleischman wit and vigor.
Pub Date: April 1, 1981
ISBN: 0394946731
Page Count: 63
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1981
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