A visual feast of cityscape shapes.
Rhyming text and brilliant multimedia collage combine to follow a girl’s journey through her beloved city.
Part concept book, part love letter to urban beauty, Murray and Collier’s collaboration highlights an African-American girl’s observations about the many shapes she sees in and around her city. In his illustrator’s note, Collier tells readers that he modeled the little girl on his own daughter, and Murray’s author’s note shares that she was inspired to write her rhyming verse by her many walks around New York City. The text’s pattern first highlights many different items that share a given shape and then names that shape before moving on to another list. A postal truck, a pretzel cart, "and stacks of brown packages hauled up the stairs" are all squares, for instance. Collier fills every page, allowing art to take up entire double-page spreads, and his distinctive collage technique is particularly well-suited to highlighting the shapes named by the text. He also pushes well beyond merely visually reiterating the items the text lists, and the result is a seamless interdependence of art and text that will allow readers to find the named items while also providing ample visual interest to reward poring over the illustrations.
A visual feast of cityscape shapes. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: June 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-316-37092-9
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree.
A Christmas edition of the beloved alphabet book.
The story starts off nearly identically to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989), written by John Archambault and the late Bill Martin Jr, with the letters A, B, and C deciding to meet in the branches of a tree. This time, they’re attempting to scale a Christmas tree, not a coconut tree, and the letters are strung together like garland. A, B, and C are joined by the other letters, and of course they all “slip, slop, topple, plop!” right down the tree. At the bottom, they discover an assortment of gifts, all in a variety of shapes. As a team, the letters and presents organize themselves to get back up on the Christmas tree and get a star to the top. Holiday iterations of favorite tales often fall flat, but this take succeeds. The gifts are an easy way to reinforce another preschool concept—shapes—and the text uses just enough of the original to be familiar. The rhyming works, sticking to the cadence of the source material. The illustrations pay homage to the late Lois Ehlert’s, featuring the same bold block letters, though they lack some of the whimsy and personality of the original. Otherwise, everything is similarly brightly colored and simply drawn. Those familiar with the classic will be drawn to this one, but newcomers can enjoy it on its own.
A successful swap from coconut tree to Christmas tree. (Picture book. 3-5)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665954761
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Beach Lane/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Formulaic fare that will nevertheless charm devoted followers.
A few familiar friends explore gratitude.
Daywalt’s crayons have observed many holidays, from Christmas to Earth Day. On Thanksgiving, these anthropomorphic school supplies wax (pun intended) poetic about their favorite things to draw. “Blue is thankful for blueberries.” (The accompanying illustration depicts the stubby crayon leaping into a pile of the fruit.) Black, on a page topped by dark scribbles, “is thankful for night skies.” In an aside, Black adds, “Big, beautiful night skies I get to color in all by myself!” (Blue is perfectly fine with this.) Pink pipes up with “Three glorious words. Amazon. River. Dolphins”—which may spur readers to research these creatures. The tale turns a bit meta, too. Teal is thankful for family—both Blue and Green. Red, surrounded by hearts, is thankful for Neon Green Highlighter, who was accidentally dropped into the crayon box—a “dreamboat” for sure. Recognizable jokes from previous works make appearances; these callbacks will delight staunch fans, though others will find them tiring. Standard cheer and platitudes abound; the crayons are ultimately most grateful for each other.
Formulaic fare that will nevertheless charm devoted followers. (Picture book. 3-6)Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2024
ISBN: 9780593690574
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
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