PLB 0-531-33194-6 This alphabet guide to North, Central, and South America gives a good indication of the land’s cultural and geographic sweep, from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego, including its 48 countries and dependencies and 11 large language groups. The territory is vast, comfortably accommodating J for “jalape§o” (Mexican) and K is for “kayak” (Inuit), plus ocelots, llamas, empanadas, and igloos. As Spanish is the predominant language in the Americas, there is a strong Latin texture to the book, with Native American and African influences also fairly conspicuous. Each entry is sensibly explained and set in its context as much as possible. The authors don’t attempt encyclopedic coverage, but rather peek into some cultural byways; there is information served up as simple nuggets of insight, as well as facts that are provocative, which may well send readers off on further exploration. Sanchez’s artwork is highly descriptive, with lots of color and an emphasis on clothing and architecture, and infusing dry portions of the text with life. (Picture book. 5-9)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-531-30194-X
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Orchard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1999
As she lovingly details the comfortable disarray of a perfectly splendid staircase, a small mouse counts off the stairs in a game she has clearly played many times. The rhyme skips and leaps from “First step. Rain step,” because that’s where her puddle boots are, to the third step, where the window seat is, to the sixth, where she can peer into her own bedroom, to the eleventh where the night light lives, and the twelfth where she can go back down and start again. She’s accompanied by her little sister and readers catch a glimpse at the end of a mother, father, and baby, too. The details are whimsical, and the rhyme infectious. A real treat, perfectly centered on a small child’s perceptions and experience. (Picture book. 3-7)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-886910-34-0
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1999
In this visual feast from Lesser and Regan (Dig Hole, Soft Mole, 1996), so striking are the oil and gouache wildlife portraits that, despite the counting book framework, numbers are nearly an afterthought. Every spread has a you-are-there quality, as if readers are peering into a rock-strewn stream to spy six fire salamanders or scuba diving alongside one leopard ray in the murky blue. The book opens with an invitation—“Spotted creatures/wait for you. Snoop and find them/count them, too”—as Lesser toys with language, using active verbs to describe the kinds of spots found on each animal: “Staring, rippling, jetting spots” dapple five reef squid; “loping, gazing, nibbling spots” grace seven reticulated giraffes. Although spots are the unifying theme, the creatures have been carefully selected not only for their markings but for their habitats or biomes, identified and outlined in a final glossary. (Picture book. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-200666-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1999
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