The sentiment is true even when obscured, as here, by ostentatious graphic design.
A series of fanciful animal portraits, constructed using only the letters or signs for “Love” or “I love you” in 16 languages (or 18, depending how you count).
Style definitively trumps legibility here, whether the sentiment is expressed in English or Amharic, Thai, or American Sign Language. Even for the nine tongues that use non-Roman scripts, Cundy, a veteran typographer, chooses multiple typefaces and throws in so many swashes and dingbats that the animals are rarely recognizable and the words composing their bodies thoroughly disguised. Fortunately for readers, he identifies all of the creatures, scenarios, and languages in his accompanying narratives. Unfortunately, he also adds sometimes-daunting challenges, such as finding a tiny heart placed amid thousands of spiral ornaments on the Hebrew page or counting the hundreds of “Love letters” that make up the ornate flowers he assembles for English. Also unfortunately, his pronunciation guidelines are idiosyncratic—the umlaut in the Swedish “älskar” is rendered as a glottal stop following the pronoun “Jag,” for instance, while the short “a” in the French “L’amour” is given as is, but the same sound in the Italian “Amore” is “Ah.” Between a pretty if perfunctory world map that doubles as index and a complete tally of typefaces and ornaments, he concludes “Any way you say it, ‘I love you’ means the same thing to everyone!”
The sentiment is true even when obscured, as here, by ostentatious graphic design. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-56792-586-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Godine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
Jack is having a bad Monday morning in this MathStart (Level two) title, which painlessly slides probability into the story. Jack’s late for school; his dad is fixing lunch, which means he may get something he doesn’t like; and he gets milk all over his math homework. Finding out lunch is tuna fish (which he hates), Jack dreams of trading with Emma, a girl in his class who had pastrami four days last week (Jack’s favorite). He trades sandwiches with Emma without asking, and gets liverwurst, something even worse than tuna. Then he is off to after-school soccer, where he tries to decide where to stand in line so that he and his friend will be on the same team. Jack figures, based on past sessions, the coach will probably have them count off by twos, but again he is fooled as the coach has them count off by threes. Other probability opportunities include which snack hew will get, what’s for dinner, and what’s for dessert. The day ends pleasantly as Jack’s mother brings his favorite pistachio ice cream. The author includes an afterword with questions for adults and kids to reinforce the concept of probability. He also suggests games and activities to extend the concept. Colorful pencil and watercolor illustrations show an appealing group of interracial young children, parents, and teachers. Children will enjoy the story whether or not it helps their understanding of probability. The popular author of other MathStart titles (Missing Mittens, see above, etc.) will find a ready audience for this effort. (Nonfiction. 6-8)
Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2001
ISBN: 0-06-028028-X
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2000
The king can’t beat them, so he joins them, clueless until the end, and kids will giggle all the way. (Picture book. 6-8)
Barnett delivers a sweet slap to vanity.
This king is neither toady nor tyrant, but he just can’t get enough of himself. He gazes into the mirror that one of his retainers totes by his side, smitten and remiss. For as he takes in the royal visage, the royal roads are crumbling and the royal playground has broken swings—his kingdom is a wreck of neglect. “Enough!” cry his subjects, but all the king offers is a giant billboard of his face. That night, a giant mustache is painted on the royal puss. Outraged, the king wants the culprit flung in jail. The wanted posters, of course, feature the king’s face. More mustaches materialize. “So he slouched in the Royal Throne. ‘Look at my wonderful face,’ he said. ‘Who could be doing this to me?’ ” Well, everyone. Cornell ushers the story forward with cinematic artwork, framed in elaborate medieval-like borders but paced sequentially like a comic book. As the town inadvertently re-creates itself—everybody admits their guilt, everybody must go to jail, which means a big expansion project for the prison, which results in a whole new village—there comes a bloodless revolution.
The king can’t beat them, so he joins them, clueless until the end, and kids will giggle all the way. (Picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4231-1671-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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