Uneven but fun.
Rhymed riddles with lift-the-flap answers offer guessing-game giggles for toddlers.
Readers can guess at and reveal the identities of five barnyard friends in its two-page set pieces: a rhymed riddle, sans solution, on the verso and a relatively easy-to-open flap on the facing page that conceals the answer, presented in both picture and word form. The rhyme scheme and meter vary a bit; caregivers would do well to practice before sharing to avoid tripping over the occasional bit of overcomplicated phrasing: “I’m the morning ALARM / heard out on the FARM. / Wake up! I cock-a-doodle-dooed, SIR. / Keep the gate SHUT / or out I will STRUT / I’m proud to be such a fine….” A peek behind the flap on the next page reveals the answer: a brightly colored, crowing rooster. On a practical level, by the time a child has managed to locate and lift the flap, the rhythm of the line is disrupted, losing some of the momentum of the rhyme. Other rhymes are simpler and more straightforward, though, and funnier, too: “I wallow in MUD / and eat lots of CRUD / For slop, my appetite’s BIG. / You think I STINK? / I’m tickled PINK! Oinkity-oink! I’m a….” The wallowing pig and other farm animals are stylized but recognizable; the colors are bright and earthy. Companion title Riddle Diddle Safari shares both this volume’s strengths and its weaknesses.
Uneven but fun. (Board book. 2-5)Pub Date: Aug. 21, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68152-406-1
Page Count: 10
Publisher: Amicus Ink
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
These explorations are limited.
Riddles give hints about a dog’s life in an idyllic garden.
The lessons begin on the first page with unnecessary instruction on how to use the book. Romeo is an anthropomorphic orange mutt with a white snout, expressive green eyes, and boundless curiosity. On each spread Romeo asks a question, set in clean, sans-serif type, about something found in a garden. For example: “In the garden, what has a trunk, branches, and many leaves?” A page turn reveals the answer—“A tree”—in a larger font on the upper left. The cheery art with multiple scenes per page has a retro feel, no doubt due to the fact that French illustrator Grée’s heyday was in the 1960s and ’70s; these images have been repurposed from earlier books. Details in the pictures, which feature Romeo, a multiracial cast of children, and various bugs, animals, butterflies, and birds, add more information. Romeo’s costume changes frequently. On the page about bees, he is wearing a beekeeper’s veil; he wears a striped sunsuit on the tree and wheelbarrow pages and, oddly, what looks like a motorcycle helmet on the page about rain. The formal, pedantic text of this British import sounds stilted: “Which prickly animals that sleep curled up might you see in the garden?” The answer, a hedgehog, will likely puzzle readers in the U.S., where hedgehogs live in zoos, not the backyard.
These explorations are limited. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: March 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-78708-015-7
Page Count: 22
Publisher: Button Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
A fun activity to share with children in the identify-and-name stage.
A guessing game for the littlest animal lovers.
Tarsky combines a description of an animal’s ears with a close-up of those organs and a clue as to the animal’s habitat. While the only time the question is asked is in the title, readers will quickly catch on and chime in with their guesses. The text “big ears” accompanies two pointy, orange-furred ears against a white backdrop with bluish paw prints (fox). “Little ears” shows the side of a gorilla, including an arm and the curve of the backside, leafy vines trailing down the green background. The opposites continue with such pairs as “stand-up” and “floppy” and “round” and “pointy.” No answers are provided in the text; instead, the endpapers (back and front are identical) label a small picture of the full animal with the name and ear description of each of the 16 pairs of ears. Some of the pages are more challenging than others (and some are giveaways), and readers will certainly be introduced to new animals (an armadillo has “hard ears”). Publishing simultaneously, Whose Feet? follows the same format and features a few of the same animals from Ears along with new ones, including polar bear (“four wet feet”), lion (“fat feet”), squirrel (“digging feet”), and tortoise (“slow feet”). The simple, black-outlined artwork keeps the focus on the relevant features and clues.
A fun activity to share with children in the identify-and-name stage. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: May 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8075-9040-9
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Whitman
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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