A refreshing and fun reimagining of the traditional board-book format.
This board book puts readers behind the steering wheel of a fire truck on the way to an emergency.
When closed, the book forms a semicircle with the binding as the straight edge; opening it to the first page reveals two cutout handles on either side of what is now a circular book. With gauges and controls across the bottom, the perspective allows readers to imagine they are holding the steering wheel and driving a fire truck. The first page shows the rising garage door, and the subsequent pages have the truck approaching billowing smoke that comes into view ever closer and clearer. The rhyming text includes commands that urge readers to “push” the buttons on the steering wheel. For example, “Park the truck, extend the ladder” encourages readers to touch the yellow ladder control. The novelty of the perspective is thrilling fun for toddlers. Following the directions in the text, including which way to turn, helps bring the story to life. The illustrations are simple and bold, with added touches that highlight certain focal points such as yellow lightning bolts coming from the crackling radio. There are only a few pages where firefighters are shown, but the characters depicted vary in gender and racial presentation. Companion title Drive the Race Car puts readers into a high-speed race, complete with a pit stop and a checkered-flag win.
A refreshing and fun reimagining of the traditional board-book format. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4521-7885-1
Page Count: 14
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2021
A Christmas train book that gets derailed by a lacking story arc.
Not quite the Polar Express….
Sobel’s rhyming text fails to deliver a clear premise for the eponymous goodnight train’s Christmas Eve progress through the pages, and Huliska-Beith’s acrylic paintings embellished with fabric and paper collage don’t clarify the storytelling. At the start of the picture book, a bevy of anthropomorphic animals decorates a rather rickety-looking engine, and then human children gather around and pile into train cars that look like beds and cribs. The train follows a track, seemingly in pursuit of Santa’s sleigh, but to what end isn’t clear. They travel “through a town of gingerbread” and through the woods to find the sleigh blocking the tracks and the reindeer snoozing while, mystifyingly, Santa counts some sheep. Perching the sleigh on the train’s cowcatcher, they all proceed to the North Pole, where the “elves all cheer. / Santa’s here until next year!” But then the goodnight train just…leaves, “heading home on Christmas Eve.” Was this a dream? It definitely wasn’t a story with a satisfying beginning, middle, and end. Santa’s face is never seen; the human children and elves are diverse.
A Christmas train book that gets derailed by a lacking story arc. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-328-61840-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Truck lovers of any gender will find this title a treat, but the hyperfeminine companion is sadly restrictive.
Richly textured board pages and a limited color palette distinguish this tribute to trucks.
The gray buckram cover is a delight to hold, while bright red endpapers promise excitement within. Beautifully designed using shades of red, black, white, and brown on matte pages, the whole package has a retro, letterpress feel. The first truck is a firetruck big enough for a brown-skinned child to straddle. Later pages feature construction vehicles, a flatbed trailer, and an ice cream truck. The slight text has a lyrical quality, though the occasional rhymes seem accidental. Relatively abstract concepts are casually introduced, “Love is a kid who lines them all up. Biggest to smallest, color by color.” On the final page the brown-skinned child is kissed goodnight while clutching a truck under a road-patterned blanket. The main character wears plaid bib overalls and has longish curly hair. Another child, also brown-skinned, with close-cropped hair, plays with the construction trucks, shares a treat from the ice cream truck, and offers a goodnight kiss. Unfortunately, a less gender-neutral companion volume, Love Is a Tutu, clearly aims for the ballerina market with an excess of pink. Together the two books assure little girls they can love both tutus and trucks. Unfortunately, they send a mixed message to little boys.
Truck lovers of any gender will find this title a treat, but the hyperfeminine companion is sadly restrictive. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-937359-86-7
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Cameron + Company
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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