Despite the sound effect, an unexceptionable addition to the fleets of like fare for diapered diggers.
With an electronic rattle and roar, heavy machines dig and dump, haul and lift as an apartment building goes up.
Depicted in photographic images digitally buffed to a plastic sheen, a massive excavator, dump and cement trucks, heavy-duty forklifts, and other bright-yellow behemoths dominate each sturdy double-page spread. In peculiar contrast, the workers, who are of both sexes and show slight but perceptible differences in skin tone, are tiny, stylized toylike figures. Along with identifying their roles in the project, these workers bustle about the site making comments (“Look out everyone! This is a really big hole”)—and announcing that they’re off for coffee or lunch breaks. Readers accustomed to the conventions of comic strips will be puzzled to see that all of this dialogue appears to be internal, as it’s expressed in thought bubbles rather than speech balloons. Scene-expanding flaps and one gatefold add visual variety to each stage of the construction, and a chip embedded in the rear cover provides a few seconds of atmospheric engine noise with each push of a button.
Despite the sound effect, an unexceptionable addition to the fleets of like fare for diapered diggers. (Pop-up informational book. 2-4)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4654-5391-4
Page Count: 18
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
Sweet, stimulating illustrations offer up baby basics for bedtime.
Spring arrives, and a neighborly duck leaves his own nest of ducklings to greet new animal babies far and wide.
He pops up in unexpected locales, observing infant fish, monkeys, zebras, lions, kangaroos, sea horses, polar bears and lizards—all snuggling with mommies and daddies in their habitats. Children never cease finding pleasure (and embedded reassurance) in domestic scenes brimming with love, which this cozy book provides in spades while also offering up some zoological facts in wonderfully plain language. Every double-page spread highlights differences in animal baby characteristics: Some babies arrive alongside their siblings, some come solo, some ride in their mommy’s pouches, some nestle in their daddy’s, some can walk right away, some get carried around, some have fur, and some have scales. Undulating rainbow colors, circular patterns and fibrous textures swirl across leaves, animal bodies and sky, creating a lively natural world. Here’s evidence that digital tinkering can yield richly layered, cohesive artwork that captures the kaleidoscopic beauty of the animal kingdom, its shadows, lights, colors, textures and shapes. Night falls and finds all the newborns ready for sleep, nudging little readers to shut their eyes too.
Sweet, stimulating illustrations offer up baby basics for bedtime. (Picture book. 2-4)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-75290-9
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2013
Lacking in consistency and coherence, this effort remains an interesting concept unsuccessfully executed.
The life story of a seed is set in a biblical context.
Readers are introduced on the first page to Little Seed, who will serve as the uninspiring and often hard-to-spot main character of this tale. It floats to the ground and is buried in the soil until winter arrives and the earth freezes. Lest readers worry about Little Seed at this point, they are offered the startling—for no religious or spiritual context has been thus far established—reassurance that “God gave Little Seed everything it needed. Its hard coat protected it. Little Seed was safe.” When spring comes, Little Seed’s softened shell splits open, and a sprout and roots begin to grow. At this point, the illustrations present several small seedlings, making it impossible to even identify Little Seed. When summer rolls around, Little Seed has become a sunflower that must reproduce in fall to fulfill its destiny. The final page spread attempts to tie everything together by offering a quotation referencing gardens and seeds from Isaiah 61:11. The illustrations, an unusual mixture of realism and impressionism, are plagued by inconsistencies. The permanent fixtures of Little Seed’s background, for example, seem to change from season to season, though presumably it remains rooted in the same spot.
Lacking in consistency and coherence, this effort remains an interesting concept unsuccessfully executed. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9854090-7-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Graham Blanchard
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2014
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