The strongest aspect of this otherwise mediocre offering is the quality of the sound, making it and its companion good...
A brief introduction to five band instruments with accompanying sound.
The instruments highlighted here are the flute, accordion, saxophone, drum, and cello. Each double-page spread features, on the left, a few cartoon illustrations with simple sentences offering some facts about the instrument and its use. While some of the facts are fairly simple—“The drum is very noisy!”—others are more complicated or even obscure. Readers learn, for instance, that the “saxophone is the symbol of jazz” and that the “panpipe is the most common type of flute in South America.” On the right-hand side of each spread is a photograph of the instrument with an embedded sound button. The buttons are a bit tricky for little hands to depress, but the sounds they produce—several seconds of music for each instrument—are clear and interesting. The cartoons and stock photos are merely serviceable, but the combination of the two types of images will aid children in identifying the instruments in different contexts. Simultaneously published Forest Animals follows the same pattern and includes a wolf, bear, owl, frog, and deer (which grunts).
The strongest aspect of this otherwise mediocre offering is the quality of the sound, making it and its companion good options for board-book collections lacking multisensory titles. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: May 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-2-7338-3233-2
Page Count: 12
Publisher: Auzou Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
A rudimentary introduction to a classic skill. Up next: how to dial a phone, play CDs, use a film camera….
Hey kids! Learn how to read an analog clock just like your (grand)parents!
A big, round hole cut into the front cover and every subsequent heavy cardboard page reveals a clock face with hours marked in Arabic numerals; the minutes are marked likewise but only by increments of five. The two ratcheted plastic hands can be individually set according to prompts delivered by a bear and the titular crocodile, evidently roommates. They rise in the crowded, flat cartoon illustrations at “7 o’clock” (“If the long hand points straight up to 12, the time is a whole hour,” Clockodile informs the bear). Improbably, they get set to retire at “25 after 7” that night. In between, they catch a bus, paint some pictures (at “half past 9”), eat lunch, swim (at “quarter after 2”) and share dinner. Meanwhile, an inconspicuous printed clock in each scene provides the proper configuration of hands, and a small blue robot helpfully supplies the “digital time” equivalents on a band running along the bottom. Explanations of seconds, minutes other than those divisible by five, Roman numerals and alternative expressions (“nine thirty,” “two fifteen,” etc.) are evidently reserved for another time.
A rudimentary introduction to a classic skill. Up next: how to dial a phone, play CDs, use a film camera…. (Novelty. 3-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-58925-552-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
Originally published in France, this vibrantly colored, vertically bound offering featuring a silly and slightly scary wolf...
Watch out! The big, bad wolf is coming to get you.
But first, he has to introduce himself. Drawn in thick black lines against a white background, he announces, with hands on hips, “Hello, I am the big bad wolf.” On subsequent pages, readers watch as he dons his big-bad-wolf outfit, one garment per page spread: first his underpants (covered in pink hearts), then a white T-shirt, orange socks, blue pants, a red pullover, boots, a feathered hat, and finally, a long black coat. Kids will readily relate to this time-consuming process of getting dressed (though they may be initially thrown by a couple of unusual vocabulary choices: “trousers” and “top”). As he pulls on all these various items, the wolf looks downright silly, with large, round yellow eyes and a goofy grin. On the final pages, he turns more menacing with arms raised, eyebrows slanted and pink tongue protruding. Following the advice on the back cover—quickly “snap[ping] the book shut to keep the wolf inside”—will help wee ones feel safe as they enjoy the thrill of a little scare.
Originally published in France, this vibrantly colored, vertically bound offering featuring a silly and slightly scary wolf will keep kids coming back for more. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-877579-42-4
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Gecko Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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