A sadly run-of-the-mill effort from such a name as McPhail.
Crash is a feline wrecking crew!
Krissie and Kait love their puffy kitty, Crash. They named him Crash because he runs in to everything! Kate’s drum set? CRASH! Krissie’s doll? CRASH! Mom’s birthday cake? CRASH! Dad’s can of paint? CRASH! When he smashes through the girls’ farmland play set, they are finally worried enough to take him to the veterinarian. Maybe he is sick or in need of some glasses. The vet gives him a clean bill of health…but as soon as Crash is home, he plows through a load of clean laundry that has to be washed again. However, the girls love him, and he tolerates their dressing him up and dragging him about the house. Late one night he’s not in his bed, and a crash draws the entire family downstairs. Crash is chasing a mouse around the kitchen, cornering it in a boot. Crash has redeemed himself in the eyes of his humans. In this kitty-cat version of McPhail’s own Bad Dog (2014), the prolific creator bases the tale on his granddaughters and their cat. As a tale of childhood devotion to a pet it works well, but McPhail’s watercolor-and-ink illustrations are not up to his usual standards. Pudgy, fluffy Crash often looks more canine than feline, and Crash’s redemption is too facile. Crash’s family is white, and the vet is black.
A sadly run-of-the-mill effort from such a name as McPhail. (Picture book. 2-7)Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8234-3649-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: June 27, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable.
You think you know shapes? Animals? Blend them together, and you might see them both a little differently!
What a mischievous twist on a concept book! With wordplay and a few groan-inducing puns, Neal creates connections among animals and shapes that are both unexpected and so seemingly obvious that readers might wonder why they didn’t see them all along. Of course, a “lazy turtle” meeting an oval would create the side-splitting combo of a “SLOW-VAL.” A dramatic page turn transforms a deeply saturated, clean-lined green oval by superimposing a head and turtle shell atop, with watery blue ripples completing the illusion. Minimal backgrounds and sketchy, impressionistic detailing keep the focus right on the zany animals. Beginning with simple shapes, the geometric forms become more complicated as the book advances, taking readers from a “soaring bird” that meets a triangle to become a “FLY-ANGLE” to a “sleepy lion” nonagon “YAWN-AGON.” Its companion text, Animal Colors, delves into color theory, this time creating entirely hybrid animals, such as the “GREEN WHION” with maned head and whale’s tail made from a “blue whale and a yellow lion.” It’s a compelling way to visualize color mixing, and like Animal Shapes, it’s got verve. Who doesn’t want to shout out that a yellow kangaroo/green moose blend is a “CHARTREUSE KANGAMOOSE”?
Innovative and thoroughly enjoyable. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4998-0534-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little Bee Books
Review Posted Online: May 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
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So sweet it’ll have readers heading for their toothbrushes.
Another entry in the how-much-I-love-you genre.
The opening spread shows a blue elephant-and-child pair, the child atop the adult, white hearts arcing between their uplifted trunks: “You’re a gift and a blessing in every way. / I love you more each and every day.” From there, the adult elephant goes on to tell the child how they are loved more than all sorts of things, some rhyming better than others: “I love you more than all the spaghetti served in Rome, // and more than each and every dog loves her bone.” More than stars, fireflies, “all the languages spoken in the world,” “all the dancers that have ever twirled,” all the kisses ever given and miles ever driven, “all the adventures you have ahead,” and “all the peanut butter and jelly spread on bread!” Representative of all the world’s languages are “I love you” in several languages (with no pronunciation help): English, Sioux, French, German, Swahili, Spanish, Hawaiian, Chinese, and Arabic (these two last in Roman characters only). Bold colors and simple illustrations with no distracting details keep readers’ focus on the main ideas. Dashed lines give the artwork (and at least one word on every spread) the look of 2-D sewn toys.
So sweet it’ll have readers heading for their toothbrushes. (Picture book. 2-6)Pub Date: Dec. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4926-8398-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
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