Give this race the red flag.
A brown dog uses all sorts of fantastical vehicles to chase a pink cat through an interactive board book.
A blue mouse and a whistle-wielding parrot in a striped shirt also share each spread. On the first and last pages, additional cartoon critters cheer them on. The competition starts as a footrace before moving to cars, boats, a train, planes, and spaceships. Angry facial expressions clearly show the dog’s irritation with the cat’s consistent lead while also inadvertently suggesting that a pink character’s success is somehow unnatural. Halting, uneven rhymes never quite get up to speed. Vague instructions on the back cover to “Use the holes on each page to pop up, wiggle, and surprise your youngest readers” give little clue as to how exactly fingers should be placed. The holes are not consistently spaced; because there are often holes on either side of the gutter, it is not possible to deploy all at one time. The design appears to take no account of what is glimpsed through the holes, and they often reveal a confusing jumble rather than leading to a well-planned surprise or even simply giving a hint as to what will be seen when the page is turned. Active children are likely to take advantage of the die-cut holes to turn pages before the text can be read. The final “everyone wins” message makes for a disappointing, confusing finish.
Give this race the red flag. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: May 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-9218-8
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Little Simon/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
Sure to inspire calls of “READ IT AGAIN!” (Board book. 1-3)
A chunky board book with ingenious gatefolds, flaps, die-cuts, and construction trucks galore.
Like its series predecessors, this title has ample toddler appeal. Not only is its construction-site theme a passion for many children, its bold colors and thoughtful design will engage little hands and eyes as they pore over the pages. After the first two spreads show a wrecking ball smashing and crashing to open the book, two children peer out, asking, “WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?” and “CAN I LOOK, TOO?” Their pages open up as side-by-side gatefolds to reveal a vast scene with “SO MANY TRUCKS! SO MANY WORKERS!” Subsequent spreads home in on individual vehicles plied by racially diverse workers and their respective roles in building up a city block. Layout includes gatefolds that open vertically up and down as well as horizontally left and right, and many pages are shaped to visually echo the vehicles and objects depicted. While such familiar fare as a bulldozer, dump truck, and a crane appear, less-common vehicles and equipment emerge as well, with some of the more dramatic gatefolds and die-cuts revealing a tunnel borer, a massive bridge builder that spans valleys, and sky cranes hovering above like superpowered helicopters. The book culminates as workers take a lunch break and then throw themselves back into work to “BUILD, BUILD, BUILD ALL OVER TOWN!”
Sure to inspire calls of “READ IT AGAIN!” (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2569-2
Page Count: 90
Publisher: Abrams Appleseed
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Clean design and invitations to action will help young builders become readers—expect to find this book in the sand box or...
This busy board book introduces five colors, five construction vehicles, and five physical movements.
Each spread begins with the same two couplets: “Noisy Yellow Digger meets someone new. / ‘What is your name and what do you do?’ ” An orange crane, green steamroller, blue dump truck, and red bulldozer each reply, “I’ll show you what I do....” Behind a full-page flap, each truck uses simple, first-person language to explain its basic function in relation to the yellow digger. On the opposite side of the now-open flap cheerful construction-worker bears invite child readers to mimic each vehicle’s action. Opening the flap also produces a truck sound that plays briefly. (The book’s speaker is in the rear cover, so readers may need to take care not to muffle it.) A radio appears with all the vehicles on the final spread, and the flap opens to reveal the bears dancing. The sounds seem almost incidental; the book’s strengths are clear, consistent illustrations and repetitive language. For example, the scene changes with each page, but the digger is always the same, and details (a bee, butterfly, or cloud) shown on the closed page can be found in the same place when the flap is opened. Small print on the back cover cautions that the sounds are light-activated, which makes this a poor choice for bedtime.
Clean design and invitations to action will help young builders become readers—expect to find this book in the sand box or on the road rug. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5892-5242-4
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
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