Whimsy and hidden objects add much to the appeal of this month-by-month journey.
Gregory the Spider invites kids to follow him through the calendar and learn what’s special about each month in this children’s picture book.
Last seen in the background to illustrations in Meyer’s Merry Stirring Mice: Santa’s Secret Team (2014), Gregory the Spider returns to star in a book of his own. Through the 12 months of the year, friendly Gregory and his pals—including a white human family and a mouse family—explore what’s special about each month. In January, for example, on an icy day, a book on Martin Luther King Jr. pokes out of a child’s backpack; inside a house, a girl kneels by the window with a warm drink in her hand, and outside, a mouse pair ice-skates on a puddle. Each page offers I-Spy animals, objects, and month names to notice or find hidden in the illustrations, possibly woven into Gregory’s web. A checklist is appended with some explanations. For example, a humpback whale and her baby are shown in August, that month being the best time to see them on the U.S. East Coast. Another nice recurring feature are children’s backpacks, which often have month-related books visible, such as one on MLK for January. The illustrations are well-detailed, colorful, and appealing, and although most human characters are white, there is a gesture toward diversity in the December scene, which shows cookies for Santa and an Elf on the Shelf, but also a dreidel.
Whimsy and hidden objects add much to the appeal of this month-by-month journey.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-692-93954-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Book Baby
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own...
The sturdy Little Blue Truck is back for his third adventure, this time delivering Christmas trees to his band of animal pals.
The truck is decked out for the season with a Christmas wreath that suggests a nose between headlights acting as eyeballs. Little Blue loads up with trees at Toad’s Trees, where five trees are marked with numbered tags. These five trees are counted and arithmetically manipulated in various ways throughout the rhyming story as they are dropped off one by one to Little Blue’s friends. The final tree is reserved for the truck’s own use at his garage home, where he is welcomed back by the tree salestoad in a neatly circular fashion. The last tree is already decorated, and Little Blue gets a surprise along with readers, as tiny lights embedded in the illustrations sparkle for a few seconds when the last page is turned. Though it’s a gimmick, it’s a pleasant surprise, and it fits with the retro atmosphere of the snowy country scenes. The short, rhyming text is accented with colored highlights, red for the animal sounds and bright green for the numerical words in the Christmas-tree countdown.
Little Blue’s fans will enjoy the animal sounds and counting opportunities, but it’s the sparkling lights on the truck’s own tree that will put a twinkle in a toddler’s eyes. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-544-32041-3
Page Count: 24
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Halloween is used merely as a backdrop; better holiday titles for young readers are available.
A ghost learns to appreciate his differences.
The little ghost protagonist of this title is unusual. He’s a quilt, not a lightweight sheet like his parents and friends. He dislikes being different despite his mom’s reassurance that his ancestors also had unconventional appearances. Halloween makes the little ghost happy, though. He decides to watch trick-or-treaters by draping over a porch chair—but lands on a porch rail instead. A mom accompanying her daughter picks him up, wraps him around her chilly daughter, and brings him home with them! The family likes his looks and comforting warmth, and the little ghost immediately feels better about himself. As soon as he’s able to, he flies out through the chimney and muses happily that this adventure happened only due to his being a quilt. This odd but gently told story conveys the importance of self-respect and acceptance of one’s uniqueness. The delivery of this positive message has something of a heavy-handed feel and is rushed besides. It also isn’t entirely logical: The protagonist could have been a different type of covering; a blanket, for instance, might have enjoyed an identical experience. The soft, pleasing illustrations’ palette of tans, grays, white, black, some touches of color, and, occasionally, white text against black backgrounds suggest isolation, such as the ghost feels about himself. Most humans, including the trick-or-treating mom and daughter, have beige skin. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-16.6-inch double-page spreads viewed at 66.2% of actual size.)
Halloween is used merely as a backdrop; better holiday titles for young readers are available. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-7352-6447-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Tundra Books
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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