Solid—but never soars.
Fine feathered friends preen in this informational board book.
Somewhere between art book and early bird-watching guide, this board book introduces various avian factoids. Short, matter-of-fact sentences do an adequate job of conveying the most basic bird-related information. But while statements such as “birds have wings” or “most birds fly” are the right length for toddlers, they verge on clinical and dry. Although the surface-level information might satiate some young readers, inquisitive listeners may want to understand more deeply why “some birds are hard to see” or how exactly “birds are important to our world.” To some degree, the simple text seems an excuse to show off the elegant watercolor bird illustrations, repurposed from previous picture books by the Sills. With a single bird species per page situated on a meticulously accurate, full-bleed background of their habitat, birds soar, hunt, nest, and perch. John Sill illustrates birds from various vantage points and perspectives, including a bald eagle gliding above viewers and a tiny ovenbird face to beak with readers on the ground. Always, the respect for the natural world is apparent in the realistic colors and poses. Under the compelling art, a plain contrasting band of color holds the drab text (printed in a stiff, serif typeset that matches the text’s formal tone) along with a well-appreciated italicized identification of every species that’s shown.
Solid—but never soars. (Board book. 1-3 )Pub Date: March 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-68263-190-4
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Peachtree
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
A book about engineering notable mostly for its illustrations of diverse characters. (Board book. 1-3)
Babies and engineers have more in common than you think.
In this book, Alexander highlights the unlikely similarities between babies and engineers. Like engineers, babies ask questions, enjoy building, and learn from their mistakes. Black’s bold, colorful illustrations feature diverse babies and both male- and female-presenting adult characters with a variety of skin tones and hair colors, effectively demonstrating that engineers can be any race or either gender. (Nonbinary models are a little harder to see.) The story ends with a reassurance to the babies in the book that “We believe in you!” presumably implying that any child can be an engineer. The end pages include facts about different kinds of engineers and the basic process used by all engineers in their work. Although the book opens with a rhythmic rhyming couplet, the remaining text lacks the same structure and pattern, making it less entertaining to read. Furthermore, while some of the comparisons between babies and engineers are both clever and apt, others—such as the idea that babies know where to look for answers—are flimsier. The book ends with a text-heavy spread of facts about engineering that, bereft of illustrations, may not hold children’s attention as well as the previous pages. Despite these flaws, on its best pages, the book is visually stimulating, witty, and thoughtful.
A book about engineering notable mostly for its illustrations of diverse characters. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-338-31223-2
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cartwheel/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Don’t judge this book by its cover; there’s an unusual concept and whimsical illustrations hiding underneath
A series of solid shapes substitute for natural objects in this board book that is somewhere between concept book and riddle game.
What’s that shape supposed to be? Running across a rust-brown labeled triangle, amid trees and elk, the text “Climb a TRIANGLE to the top” suggests the shape is a mountain; in an ocean scene with a red “STAR washed in on the waves,” the shape implies a sea star. Ample visual cues give young readers enough context to guess what the shape evokes, with some unexpected touches, such as “HEXAGON” printed on hexagonal honeycombs buzzing with bees and surrounded by golden flowers. Short, commanding sentences keep things humming, but with only six shapes covered, the book feels all too brief. Illustrator Devernay combines delicate pencil line drawings and sketchy gray-black shading with tiny, meticulously cut colored-paper collage to create her plants and animals. The most intimate drawings amaze. Close-ups of smooth stones are so appealing that readers will long to pick one up and “rub a smooth OVAL between thumb and finger.” Sadly, the cover doesn’t do the interior justice, and things get murky when several hues mix there and on the final spread. But on other spreads, where there’s a single color, it pops against the gray, such as the minute yellow beaks on the flock of charcoal birds circling the yellow “CIRCLE” sun.
Don’t judge this book by its cover; there’s an unusual concept and whimsical illustrations hiding underneath . (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-56846-317-9
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Creative Editions/Creative Company
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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